PORT ANGELES — Both sides gave their closing arguments before the Shoreline Management Hearing Board on Wednesday afternoon, ending three days of testimony regarding the proposed Oak Street hotel and conference center.
Arguments from opponents and defenders of the project focused on the project’s impact on views and the state’s rules for waterside development.
The board will decide by July 1 whether to uphold the project’s shoreline substantial development permit. Opponents could file further appeals in court if they lose.
Randal Jay Ehm, president of Ehm Architecture of Seattle and San Diego, has proposed a $17.5 million, four-story, 165-room hotel and conference center to be built on 3.8 acres adjacent to Port Angeles Harbor at Oak and Front streets in the downtown district.
In front of the building, toward the harbor, would be a park filled with native shoreline plants and an extension of the Waterfront Trail.
A rival hotel owner, Best Western Olympic Lodge owner Tod McClaskey, Jr., challenged the city’s shoreline development permit for the project that was issued last fall.
—————
The rest of the story appears in the Thursday edition of the Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.