Contract Awarded for Lincoln Park Redevelopment

Port of Port Angeles commissioners have selected Hough, Beck and Baird Inc. of Seattle to develop a master plan for redeveloping Lincoln Park. The plan includes cutting down the fir trees in Lincoln Park, probably within the next two to three years.

The contract will cost $145,513. The FAA, which requires that the trees be cut down, has awarded the Port a grant of $138,237. The Port will pay the remaining $7,276.

Pay Raise for Port of Port Angeles Executive Director

Jeff Robb is getting a five percent pay raise. This was decided by a unanimous vote of the Port of Port Angeles commissioners. His pay will now be $120,750.

This pay raise will be retroactive to August of this year.

Three Candidates for Harbor-Works Vacancy

The Port of Port Angeles has selected three finalists for the position vacated by Bart Irwin when he resigned from Harbor-Works in December.

Grant Munro, Harry Bell, and Kaj Ahlburg have been invited to give a short presentation at the next Port of Port Angeles meeting on January 25th.

Port Commissioner John Calhoun said: “It isn't an interview per se. We just want to hear why they want to be on the board.”

NOAA Decision Still on Appeal

The Government Accountability Office has upheld the appeal of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's decision to move their fleet to Newport, OR. The appeal had been filed by the Port of Bellingham, which had bid (along with the Port of Port Angeles) for the fleet.

The Government Accountability Office didn't overturn the NOAA decision. They're only asking the NOAA to reassess their decision because the Newport location is at odds with the NOAA's own requirements. The Newport site is questionable because it's within the 100-year floodplain at the mouth of the Yaquina River.

Senator Maria Cantwell had been pushing to have the NOAA's decision overturned.

Peninsula Plywood to Start Hiring

Peninsula Plywood’s lease with the Port of Port Angeles is now official. The company will begin hiring during the next few weeks, according to company president Josh Renshaw.

The lease requires PenPly to hire sixty people during the next ninety days.

Port Executive Director Jeff Robb said: “This is a bright day for Peninsula Plywood, for the Port of Port Angeles and for our community.”

Harbor-Works Gets The Money

The Port of Port Angeles has approved a $500,000 loan to Harbor-Works Development Authority.

Interim Port Executive Director Bill James will have the discretion to decide how to pay for $160,000 of the loan. The Port's 2009 budget already has $200,000 committed to the Public Development Authority. It also has $140,000 remaining from $200,000 that was allocated in 2009 to "flexible projects."

How to cover the remaining $160,000? Either by taking out an advance on the Port's 2010 budget, or by taking money from 2009 projects that probably won't be completely spent.

James said: "I can't tell you exactly which ones they are, and exactly what categories they're going to come out of. The $160,000 could come from either one of those sources."

Former KPly Mill Should Be Reopening Soon

Peninsula Plywood Group LLC has signed a lease with the Port of Port Angeles for the former KPly mill. The lease requires the company to hire forty-five employees within ninety days of the signing of the lease, which was last Friday.

Josh Renshaw — who has worked for over a year to take over the mill after it was closed — said that no employment applications have been taken yet and that more details will be released in the next few weeks. He said: “We're pleased that the purchase agreement and the lease were concluded today. These represent major milestones in creating a significant number of jobs for the community.”

The plan is to reopen the mill under its original name, Peninsula Plywood. They hope to have 172 employees and produce 5 million board-feet of plywood per month.

NOAA in Port Angeles?

The Port of Port Angeles is moving ahead with their plan to try persuading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to move to Port Angeles.

They’re currently based on Lake Union but they’re planning to relocate in 2012.

Port commission president John Calhoun said: “This would have such an economic impact that I can't even think of a comparable example in recent history.”

I don’t know how many other locations are vying for the NOAA. It’ll be a gold mine for whoever gets it. Let’s hope it’s us.

Port of Port Angeles: “Keep Out. No Trespassing”

A few months ago, that dock along the Port Angeles waterfront — between the estuary and the place where those pilings and cormorant sculptures used to be — was closed off with a cyclone fence. And the nearest parking places were all blocked off. A few weeks later the cyclone fence was gone and the parking spaces were reopened, but the dock had several “Keep Out” and “No Trespassing” signs which hadn’t been there before.

A friend of mine walked out onto the dock the other day and was accosted by some sort of security guard (presumably from the Port of Port Angeles). He was warned that he’d be fined if he was caught “trespassing” on the dock again.

He was told that the Port of Port Angeles has now “taken over” that dock and they don’t want anybody walking around out there. WTF? What’s the purpose of this?

Undoubtedly it’s easier and more convenient to just close off formerly-public property and keep the lowly public out. I hope this approach doesn’t get too common, or the next thing you know they’ll be closing the estuary so that the “riffraff” won’t be hanging out there. And think how much easier it would be to maintain the City Pier if it was closed most of the time, and only opened for specific events. And that public (for now) walkway that goes around the Landing Mall…

Purchase of Rayonier Mill Site

The Harbor-Works Public Development Authority might soon be purchasing the 75-acre site of the former Rayonier Mill.

Orville Campbell, board chairman of Harbor-Works, said a sale agreement with Rayonier Inc. would allow Harbor-Works to begin the due diligence process before they acquire the property. PCBs, dioxin, arsenic and other contaminants have accumulated during Rayonier Mill’s 68 years of operation.

Harbor-Works was created by the City of Port Angeles and the Port of Port Angeles to help direct the cleanup process and the future use of the site. Orville Campbell said he couldn’t estimate how long this process will take. “We'll have a decision point at the end of that about whether or not we go ahead with the acquisition and control of the property.”

According to Rayonier’s vice president of corporate affairs, Charles Hood, there's nothing definite about the sale; it was only discussed in “very general terms.” He said: “In my mind so far, acquisition of the property is nothing more than hypothetical at this point.”

If the Rayonier site is purchased and cleaned up, it would have great potential for some combination of retail-residential-office-industrial use. But in today’s PDN there was a letter warning that trying to develop the Rayonier site would be nothing but a “money pit.”

What do you think?

Waterfront Lot at Oak and Front Streets

That empty lot on the Port Angeles waterfront might be sold again. Two years ago Harry Dorssers bought the 1.9 acres near the Valley Creek Estuary. He was planning to build Black Diamond Harbor Plaza, a combination of condominiums, retail stores, a restaurant and underground parking.

He might keep part of the property and go ahead with his plan for the condos. (He already has the building permit.)

Or he might sell the entire lot. He’s negotiating a deal to sell all or part of the property to Lincoln Asset Management of Portland, OR. (This fact also hasn’t been confirmed by either side.)

Bob McChesney, executive director of the Port of Port Angeles, said: “The new developers are talking about putting a hotel there, but we haven't seen any new drawings by them as of yet.”

With everything being so indefinite, maybe the property will just stay undeveloped for a long time.

Sprint Boat Racing in Port Angeles?

I had never heard of sprint boat racing until this article appeared in the PDN a few days ago. But apparently it’s a popular sport, judging by all the links that come up in this web search.

And now we might get our own sprint boat race course right here in Port Angeles. The deal isn’t final by any means, but that’s the tentative plan for the 113-acre tract near the airport. The Port of Port Angeles owns the property but has agreed to sell it to the Dan Morrison Group, which has proposed building the race course on the property.

If you don’t know anything about sprint boat racing (or haven’t even heard of it), this video will give you an idea.

Port Angeles Waterfront Property Development

As you probably read the other day in the Peninsula Daily News, a new development project will soon be coming to the property at Oak and Front Streets in downtown Port Angeles. (Here’s the link.)

Black Diamond Harbor Plaza will tentatively include retail space, a restaurant, condominiums and an underground parking garage. Construction might start this summer.

The property is owned by Harry Dorssers, who bought the land from the Port of Port Angeles in September 2006.

So, what do you think of this project? Will it be good for downtown Port Angeles? I’d like to see the glass as half full instead of half empty. When this project is complete, a lot more people will be living in downtown Port Angeles. These will be affluent people who live within walking distance of everything downtown Port Angeles has to offer. This can only be good, right?

What do YOU think?