PORT ANGELES — The City Council has approved an agreement with Clallam County Fire District No. 2 for providing fire protection to a west-side industrial area proposed for annexation to the city.
The agreement includes the transition of firefighting service for the area, emergency medical services response, water supply and revenue sharing.
As part of the agreement, the fire district will rescind its petition to the Clallam County Boundary Review Board seeking a review of the city’s proposed annexation.
The proposed annexation is south of U.S. Highway 101, extending west of the city limit at Old Joe Road about 1.5 miles to the edge of the western urban growth area opposite Reddick Road.
It includes the site of a proposed alder and maple sawmill to be built by Port Angeles Hardwood LLC.
Paramedic services
Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen said upon annexation, the city will extend Medic One services to the area.
The city also will allow the fire district to use fire hydrants along a new water main being installed by the city, he said.
The Benson and Old Joe residential areas can’t be annexed because they are outside the city’s urban growth area, McKeen said.
Instead, those areas will be added to the area covered by an automatic aid agreement between the two agencies, he said.
The newly annexed area will remain in the “simultaneous response area” of both the city and the fire district for four years, with tax revenues being ramped down each year, McKeen said.
The first year after annexation, the city will pay the fire district 80 percent of the tax revenues it would have collected.
That drops to 60 percent in the second year, 50 percent in the third year and 40 percent in the fourth year.