Port Angeles Business Association members on Tuesday debated the way Santa Maria Shipping LLC was handled after the company requested waterfront acreage for a shipbuilding facility.
“It was just a poor showing — they (Port of Port Angeles officials) could have used better public language,” horticulturist Andrew May told the group’s weekly meeting.
May said that if it was necessary to say no to Santa Maria, it should have been done in a more positive way.
But Victoria Express ferry owner Jack Harmon said that unlike Westport Shipyard Inc., Santa Maria Shipping did not have a good business plan — and that he didn’t think it was a company that “we should want in our community.”
Joe Melton said since PABA’s goal was to support and encourage businesses, the group should stay positive on the Santa Maria issue and be well educated before saying anything.
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The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition. Click on SUBSCRIBE at the top of this page to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.