PORT TOWNSEND — A report on the next steps to take to upgrade the downtown will be discussed today at an open house preceding the Port Townsend City Council meeting, and at the meeting.
Rick Sepler, Port Townsend director of development services, and architect Terry Reckord will talk about information from a Streetscape Charette in February — and discuss with the public what to do now — during an open house from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. in the lobby at City Hall, 250 Madison St.
Attendees will receive copies of the follow-up report, Sepler said.
The open house will be followed at 6:30 p.m. by a presentation of the report to the City Council, which will discuss it during a workshop in council chambers at 540 Water St.
Since the charette on Feb. 23, city officials have learned more, Sepler said.
“We’ve seen what people want downtown, and understood how businesses need to stay open and accessible to their customers during the construction process,” he said.
The most important part of the downtown upgrade, Sepler said, is to maintain its historic integrity during repairs.
“Voids” under some sidewalks were found in 2008.
Almost all of downtown Taylor street and a few sections of Water and Washington streets were found to have nothing underneath the ground people walk upon.
The sidewalks are safe, said Public Safety Analyst Ken Horvath then.
“Nobody is going to drop through a hole,” he said then.
But officials are concerned about what could happen during an earthquake, for instance.
The reasons for the holes vary.
In some cases, sidewalks were built over old basements, coal chutes or fuel storage tanks. In others, only piers hold up the sidewalks, and decay has eaten away support.
In a draft of the report to be released today, it was noted that “the public streetscape/infrastructure in the Downtown Historic District is aging . . . [with] the extensive system of ‘voids’ or spaces below street level under many of the downtown’s sidewalks.
“These spaces are clearly in a state of structural deterioration and require attention.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
