PORT ANGELES — Smooth sailing continued this week for plans by Betsy Reed Schultz to provide a sailboat for guests at the Captain Joseph House Foundation.
Port of Port Angeles commissioners unanimously waived a $1,518 annual moorage fee at their regular meeting Monday that will allow the foundation to park a donated, 22-foot sailboat at the port’s Boat Haven without paying $126.50 a month.
The craft will be used by families of deceased military members who are visiting Port Angeles and staying at the Captain Joseph House at 1108 S. Oak St. — formerly Reed Schultz’s Tudor Inn bed-and-breakfast — as part of the healing process.
“I feel like it’s just one more really positive step that this community is behind the program,” Reed Schultz said Monday after the meeting.
The house, which was certified Nov. 6 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, will serve families of fallen servicemen and -women who have died in action since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The house is named for Reed Schultz’s son, Army Capt. Joseph Schultz, who joined the Army as a result of those attacks and was killed in action in Afghanistan on May 29, 2011.
Sea Scout program
The 22-foot Chrysler day-sailer, donated to the foundation by the Sea Scout program, will be skippered by a licensed captain who will pilot the boat around Ediz Hook, Reed Schultz said.
The foundation met two of three requirements for the waiver: that it be a 501(c)(3) organization and that the foundation provide 80 hours of cleanup at the Boat Haven for one year.
It did not meet the requirement to “promote, educate and expand boating activities within our community,” according to a staff report in the commissioners’ agenda packet.
“I’m not of the opinion that the third requirement is not being met if we simply find that the use of the boat through the foundation will actually engage members of our community,” Commissioner Paul McHugh said.
A town meeting on the foundation will be conducted at 6 p.m. Dec. 12 at Queen of Angels church, 209 W. 11th St., Port Angeles.
The program will include an architect’s presentation on plans for remodeling the former bed-and-breakfast.
The Captain Joseph House is intended to house up to three families and a total of 16 people, Reed Schultz said.
She expects that the facility will have a soft opening Memorial Day weekend in 2013, the two-year anniversary of her son’s death, and be fully operating by later that summer.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.