PORT ANGELES — Community donations for winter access to Hurricane Ridge Road climbed to within $10,000 of the target after Clallam County commissioners approved a $25,000 match for the second-year pilot project Tuesday.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to authorize the community match from its hotel-motel tax to help pay for daily winter access to the popular ski and snowplay area 17 miles south of Port Angeles.
Community donations of $75,000 are needed to match a $250,000 federal Department of Interior pledge to keep the road open daily, except during storms, from late fall to early spring.
In 2010, Interior agreed to provide the funds for two or three years if the community raised $75,000 each year of the trial.
The road had previously been kept open on weekends and holidays during the winter.
Port Angeles City Councilwoman Cherie Kidd, a leader of the fundraising campaign, said the community has raised between $65,00 and $70,000 so far.
“We’re very close,” Kidd said.
“We will make this. We will do this. We just have more work to do.”
The deadline to raise the $75,000 is Monday. A fundraiser is planned for the weekend.
The Hurricane Ridge Winter Access Benefit will begin at 6 p.m. with a two-hour happy hour offering a buffet and free beer and wine at the R Bar, 134 E. Front St., Port Angeles, on Saturday.
The party will continue after 8 p.m. Admission will be $25 or $10 after 8 p.m.
All proceeds will go toward the community effort to keep Hurricane Ridge Road open all year.
“At this point, we need people to step up and help us cross the finish line,” Kidd said.
“We can see the finish line, but we need people to come in and help us cross the finish line.”
Checks can be written to the Washington National Park Fund, Olympic National Park-Hurricane Ridge, or they can be mailed to Washington National Park Fund, Olympic National Park-Hurricane Ridge, at Chase, P.O. Box 64626, University Place, WA 98464.
Donations can also be made online at the website of Washington’s National Park Fund, www.wnpf.org.
The Port Angeles City Council voted unanimously to contribute $25,000 last month. The Sequim City Council also approved a $5,000 donation.
Other contributions include $3,000 from the Olympic Tourism Commission, $2,500 from the Port Angeles Business Association and $1,000 from the Clallam County Bed and Breakfast Association.
Clallam County’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee approved the use of the funds.
In other county business, commissioners awarded a $428,537 bid to Lakeside Industries of Port Angeles for paving projects on Priest Road near Sequim and Black Diamond Road near Port Angeles. The bid came in slightly below County Engineer Ross Tyler’s estimate.
“Both of them have a little bit of dirt moving, but it’s primarily pulverizing existing pavement,” Tyler said.
Priest Road will be repaved from Hendrickson Road to the Sequim city limit and include the replacement of an irrigation pipe.
Black Diamond Road will be repaved and leveled out at the curve south of Port Angeles. Tyler said the paving projects will be finished by the end of the construction season.
Earlier in the business meeting, Commissioner Steve Tharinger lauded last week’s inaugural Sonny Sixkiller Celebrity Golf Classic at the Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course and dinner and auction at 7 Cedars Casino.
“The [Jamestown S’Klallam] tribe, with its facilities in both Blyn and then at the golf course, really made it a very top-notch event,” Tharinger said.
“It was the first annual, but because it was so well done, I think it’s something that will really grow.”
County Administrator Jim Jones, who helped organize the golf tournament, said the event raised at least $40,000 for the Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
“It was just first-class at every step of the way,” Jones said.
The tournament featured 32 legendary University of Washington players and coaches.
Besides golf, attendees were offered tours to Olympic National Park sites and area wineries.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com