PORT ANGELES — The head of an American Institute of Architects design team which visited Port Angeles early last year told planning commissioners this week that he was left “nearly speechless” after seeing the results of last summer’s downtown painting project.
“I’m most impressed by the work Port Angeles has done in the year since we’ve been here,” Wayne Feiden, a Northampton, Mass., planning director and AIA volunteer, told the commissioners Wednesday evening.
“It’s truly inspiring what you’ve done here.”
‘Tipping point’
Feiden, who added that he thinks Port Angeles is at a “tipping point” for improving itself, lead the six-member design team which came to the city after it was awarded an AIA grant.
The grant paid for the team’s visit and the report the architects made.
The rising number of downtown retail vacancies was not mentioned in Feiden’s brief address to the Planning Commission.
The team’s purpose was to take a close look at downtown and the “International Corridor,” which consists of First and Front streets from Lincoln Street eastward, and provide recommendations on how the city can improve those areas.
The team released an 87-page report in August.
The report’s findings have had a significant influence on Port Angeles’ Economic and Community Development Department, which has made following-up on its recommendations a priority.
One of the observations made by the AIA team during its visits in January and March last year was that downtown did not appear attractive to visitors.
“Downtown definitely felt a little tired to us,” Feiden said Wednesday.
In response, volunteers started a downtown painting project last summer.
In total, 45 buildings and storefronts — primarily downtown — were painted, cleaned and repaired.
About 200 volunteers participated.
More this summer?
Jan Harbick, co-owner of Five SeaSuns Bed & Breakfast Inn who co-chaired the project known as “Our Community at Work — Painting Downtown” with Edna Petersen, owner of the Necessities and Temptations gift shop, said it may be continued this summer.
“We’re talking about it,” she said.
Feiden was joined by AIA staff member Erin Simmons during his two-day visit this week.
They both also attended a meeting of the Port Angeles Forward Committee, an advisory committee to the City Council, on Thursday.
Later Thursday, city staff, council members and organizers of the painting project gave the architectural critics a tour of what the project accomplished downtown.
Thursday evening, they attended a Port Angeles Business Association meeting at which they received the Key to the City award.
The purpose of the visit, Feiden told the Peninsula Daily News last week, was to see what Port Angeles accomplished and how the AIA can improve its grant program.
In response to the AIA’s report, the city has started a facade improvement program, some comprehensive plan amendments and is working on designing a waterfront promenade, new way-finding signs to direct visitors to downtown and other locations and new “entryway monuments;” creating residential parking permits for downtown to encourage residential development; removing a parking space fee for new development downtown; creating a “revitalization district” to cover new parking costs downtown; and conducting view shed and building height studies.
As a requirement for the AIA grant, the city had to provide a $5,000 match.
The AIA report can be viewed on the city’s Web site, www.cityofpa.us.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.