PORT ANGELES — Clallam County and the city of Port Angeles are slowly progressing through the design phase of the public safety facility they plan to jointly construct.
The facility will house the county’s emergency operations center and the 911 dispatch center, serving as a central base for responding to large-scale emergencies.
The project, which has been years in the making, has experienced a number of hurdles as the two governments work toward finalizing the design.
At a joint meeting last August, county commissioners and the Port Angeles City Council were told the 17,700-square-foot facility would cost just less than $30 million. At that point, the governments had a little more than $14 million in committed, awarded and anticipated funds for the project.
Staff were directed to remove or delay parts of the project with the goal of cutting it down to about $20 million. That process is still being worked through.
In the meantime, some of the grants that have been secured are on a tight timeline. The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is allocated for the construction portion of the project, is set to expire at the end of April 2026.
Given the timeline, it is likely that $2.9 million reimbursable grant will expire before it can be used for the construction. Because of that, the county asked FEMA in February to change the scope of the grant. That would allow the funding to be used for predesign, design and reconstruction portions of the emergency operations center, County Administrator Todd Mielke said.
If that request is denied, there is the option to apply for a one-time six-month grant extension, although Mielke said that is “not easy to come by.”
As of Jan. 2, OAC, the design firm, was about 30 percent finished with an updated design. A joint meeting between the two governing bodies will be scheduled once the design is about 60 to 65 percent done, hopefully sometime in mid-April, Mielke said.
At that point, the agencies will have a better idea of the cost estimates for the project as well as what aspects have been removed. If the project is on track, Mielke told the county commissioners he is hoping that preconstruction can start in late fall, weather permitting.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
