Business group to weigh in on discussions over fate of Port Angeles graving yard project

The Port Angeles Business Association will become the latest local organization to enter the Hood Canal graving yard issue when it meets Tuesday morning.

The meeting is billed as an open discussion of the issue that already has involved state transportation officials, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, North Olympic Peninsula labor unions, Clallam County and Port Angeles politicians, state and federal elected officials, and the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

The independent Port Angeles Business Association, or PABA, meets at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at Joshua’s Restaurant, 113 DelGuzzi Drive. The meeting is open to the public.

PABA President Andrew May has suggested that a Native American cultural museum be built on the graving yard site on Marine Drive just east of the Nippon Paper Industries USA mill.

That’s where the state Department of Transportation had hoped to construct huge concrete anchors and pontoons to float to the east end of the Hood Canal Bridge.

But that was before construction excavators discovered human remains in August 2003.

1,700-year-old village

The discovery stopped most work on the project while archaeologists explored the site, location of a 1,700-year-old Klallam village called Tse-whit-zen.

Exploration continued for 16 months, uncovering hundreds of ancestral burials and Native American artifacts.

The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe on Dec. 10 officially urged the Transportation Department to move the operation elsewhere.

On Wednesday in Olympia, a majority of state Transportation Commission members indicated that they could not approve continuing construction without the tribe’s approval.

Since then, Clallam County commissioners, the Port Angeles City Council and Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce have written letters to transportation officials urging a compromise that would allow construction to resume.

More in News

Kelly and Dan Freeman of Port Ludlow examine a 1958 Edsel on display during Friday evening’s 29th annual Ruddell Cruise-In at Ruddell Auto in Port Angeles. The event featured hundreds of antique and vintage automobiles from across the region as well as food, music and other activities. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Classic show

Kelly and Dan Freeman of Port Ludlow examine a 1958 Edsel on… Continue reading

Sequim School District officials report it could take upwards of 2 1/2 years to break ground on a new elementary school. Voters approved a $146 million, 20-year construction bond in a Feb. 11 special election that includes a new elementary school, renovated high school and more. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Sequim schools eye bond timeline

Bigger projects may be 2 years away

Sequim volunteer Emily Westcott has led the flower basket program along Washington Street since 1996. This year she’s retired to focus on other endeavors, and the city of Sequim and the Sequim School District will continue the partnership. Westcott is still seeking donations for downtown Sequim Christmas decorations through the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Sequim flower basket program shifts to city, school partnership

Westcott retires, plans to keep decorating downtown for Christmas

Clallam first in state to implement jail healthcare program

County eligible to apply for Medicare reimbursement for services

Writers to converge in Port Townsend to work on craft

Free readings open to the public next week

Firefighters extinguish blaze in fifth-floor hotel room

Firefighters from East Jefferson Fire Rescue and Navy Region… Continue reading

Mowing operation scheduled along Lake Crescent on Tuesday

Work crews from the state Department of Transportation will… Continue reading

EYE ON THE PENINSULA: County commissioners set to meet next week

Meetings across the North Olympic Peninsula

Peninsula Behavioral Health head discusses the fallout from federal bill

Anticipated cuts to Medicaid could devastate rural communities like Clallam County, leading… Continue reading

Tool library to open in Port Townsend

Drills, saws and more available to borrow

Fire restriction implemented on federal lands

Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park have restricted campfires… Continue reading