Petition circulating in Port Angeles to halt Gateway Center

PORT ANGELES — A petition is being circulated to downtown merchants which asks the City Council to cancel the planned Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center at Front and Lincoln streets.

Debra Hendren of the Society for Professional and Living Arts told about 40 people at the Port Angeles Downtown Association’s monthly “Morning Mingle” on Wednesday that she is going door to door seeking signatures on the petition.

Hendren said she found virtually no support for the project during recent informal surveying she has done.

She said there must be “a better use” for near-waterfront property, and that the project should be re-evaluated or moved to another location.

The downtown association’s executive director, Arla Holzschuh, said the association and its elected board of directors were not involved in the signature-gathering effort.

Holzschuh said the association has worked hard to get the best project possible, including adequate parking.

The downtown association is one of three parties involved in the project. The other two are Clallam Transit and the city.

“How can the city put forth something we all are against?” Vicki Adams of Sound Bike and Kayak asked during Wednesday’s meeting.

Adams said Clallam Transit doesn’t maintain the bus staging area it has now on Oak Street. The current project also is not the same one that was first proposed in 1997, she said.

City Manager Mike Quinn said Wednesday afternoon that he was willing to make a presentation on the project if necessary, which he concedes has changed and become more costly over the years.

It will have a public plaza area, which is an important element for downtowns across the nation, he said.

Entrance to downtown

The Gateway Center is intended to be an attractive eastern entrance to downtown Port Angeles.

The project has four components — a two-level parking garage, a staging area for as many as six Clallam Transit buses and a Chamber of Commerce visitor center with a small, adjacent plaza area.

Holzschuh said there were lingering concerns about whether the city would be able to pay for maintenance of the building and plaza once they are built.

More in News

Port Angeles teachers’ union votes to honor paraeducators’ picket line on April 8

Members of the Port Angeles Education Association voted overwhelmingly… Continue reading

Funding needed for Port Townsend homeless shelter

Operation at Legion Hall to close April 30

Port of Port Angeles renews lease for Composite Recycling Technology Center

Agreement covers 26,000 square feet at airport business park

Fire district volunteers lauded

Clallam County Fire District No. 3 recently recognized seven members… Continue reading

Clallam to continue providing deputy to Forks

Contract includes wages, mileage and maintenance reimbursement

Maintenance closes section of Olympic Discovery Trail

A portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail is closed… Continue reading

Hanna Paoluccu of Alexander, N.Y., and Rosie Berg of Nevada City, Calif., members of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group and working with the Jefferson County Noxious Weed Board, remove poisonous hemlock weed from along the Larry Scott Trail in Port Townsend on Monday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Poison hemlock removal in Port Townsend

Hanna Paoluccu of Alexander, N.Y., and Rosie Berg of Nevada City, Calif.,… Continue reading

YMCA to build childcare facility

$1-2M still needed for $6.7M project

Port Townsend Police Department recognizes award recipients

The Port Townsend Police Department recognized officers, employees, volunteers… Continue reading

Port Angeles High School evacuated due to bomb threat

Nothing suspicious found, principal says

A tree that has grown out of its tree box and shattered a nearby curb and sidewalk in the 100 block of North Oak Street is among those targeted for removal and replacement in downtown Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Port Angeles tree and sidewalk replacement to begin Monday

The Port Angeles downtown tree and sidewalk replacement project… Continue reading

Grant for Forks treatment plant to be discussed

The Clallam County Opportunity Fund Advisory Board will discuss… Continue reading