EPHRATA — Grant County residents can expect to start seeing activity on the site of the new Grant County Jail in early September.

Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said the first phase of the job will be cleaning up the site at 14156 Road B.3 NW, Ephrata. Contractors interested in bidding on that job walked around the site Tuesday.

Potential bidders were told they would be expected to start work the week of Sept. 11, Gaines said.

Gaines said the walkthrough drew people from 10 different construction companies.

The property used to be the Ephrata Raceway, and the land still shows evidence of its racing days. In addition, since it’s been closed people have used it as an illegal dump site, Gaines said.

“There are a million tires out there,” he said.

County officials, general contractor supervisors and potential bidders were walking the site when a truck pulled up with a trailer filled with mattresses, Gaines said. The driver left with his cargo when he saw the crowd, he said.

Tests of the structures on the site revealed lead paint and asbestos in the raceway concession stand, and the pit areas and racetrack have petroleum products in the soil. The cleanup crews will be removing the hazardous materials, Gaines said, along with all the junk.

“It’s an 87-acre site. That’s a lot,” Gaines said.

The buildings and fences will stay intact until the next phase of the project.

The second phase will start with demolition of the racetrack, the stands, announcer’s booth and other buildings. Once all the buildings and the track are gone and the ground leveled, the water and sewer lines and underground electrical work will be completed.

Construction is the final phase, and Gaines said county officials hope construction starts before the end of 2023. Whether it does, and how far along it gets, will depend on winter weather.

County officials will meet with project architects from CRA Architects, Tallahassee, Fla., next week, Gaines said, to look at the options — and costs — for exterior finishes.

County residents approved a three-tenths of 1% sales tax increase in 2019 to pay for law and justice projects, a new jail among them. Grant County Commissioners approved the sale of up to $90 million in construction bonds for the project in 2022, and the bonds were sold in 2023.

“We are moving, even if it’s at a snail’s pace,” Gaines said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at [email protected].