PORT ANGELES — A proposed covered arena at the Clallam County Fairgrounds, which county commissioners last discussed about six months ago, returned to their radar screen on Tuesday.
Commissioners, after appropriating $262,476 for the North Olympic Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau, said they had more revenue from the hotel/motel tax to spend on other projects.
They include improvements to county day-use parks and a feasibility study of the arena.
As for the parks, county Administrator Dan Engelbertson said they attract overnight visitors even though they are open only during daylight hours.
The visitor and convention bureau spends most of its money marketing Clallam County to tourists, he said.
“They need a product to market,” Engelbertson said, “and our parks are a great asset.”
As for the covered arena, it made headlines when it was proposed in 2004, but last came before commissioners in July when they approved the Parks and Recreation Board’s 10-year master plan.
As envisioned by fair officials, the arena would shelter an area 300 feet long and 150 feet wide, basically covering the fairgrounds’ eastside horse arena.
Construction was estimated to cost $750,000 in 2004.
The project received new life when the county’s Hotel/Motel Tax Advisory Committee recently recommended spending up to $25,000 for half the cost of a feasibility study.
The other half would be paid by another interested party, such as the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Engelbertson said.
The chamber receives the city’s share of the hotel/motel tax — $448,242 for 2005.
Russ Veenema, the chamber’s executive director, has said an arena would lure visitors who would spend $110 a day while in town.