PORT ANGELES — State, federal and Lower Elwha Klallam tribal officials have reached verbal agreement leading to a restart of the graving yard project after a six-month delay.
The sides hope to sign the agreement March 15, setting the stage for archeological work to start April 1.
No restart date for full construction was given.
“We reached an agreement in principle, initialed a draft of the agreement and will formalize it on March 15,” said Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairman Dennis R. “Sully” Sullivan following more than six hours of negotiations in Kitsap County on Friday.
“We talked through our differences until we reached agreement, and there was a strong commitment from everyone.”
Sullivan said tribal, state Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation officials were parties in Friday’s negotiations.
Lloyd D. Brown, state Department of Transportation Olympic Region communication manager, said DOT officials were pleased to have reached tentative agreement, but said he could not comment on the timeline or the budget of the project.