PORT ANGELES — Jeff Lincoln, executive director of the Port Angeles Harbor-Works Development Authority, has laid out three possibilities — including a Klallam cultural center — for the development of the Rayonier property on the waterfront.
Lincoln presented the options at the public development authority’s Tuesday meeting, as well as to the Port Angeles City Council Tuesday night.
Lincoln said the options are “mix-and-match,” so the suggestions could result in a variety of other options — and none of the ideas was exclusive to other options.
All three include industrial development. Two also would have some residential development.
One includes a Native American cultural center. A portion of the site is over the ancient village of Y’innis.
The options are:
• Alternative A, which describes a diverse development with marine, retail, residential and industrial uses.
• Alternative B also includes marine, retail and residential development, but adds a cultural hub to capitalize on the potential for finding historical Klallam artifacts.
• Alternative C focuses on marine industries, and includes a marina and an industrial area.
Lincoln said the ideas were preliminary, and that he would present more detailed plans of each to the public at a Jan. 11 meeting.
The meeting, at 6 p.m. at the Clallam County Commissioners meeting room 160, will be an opportunity for the public to comment on the plans, make other suggestions or comment on whether or how Harbor-Works should move forward on the property.
The 75-acre site at the end of Ennis Street contains pockets of PCBs, dioxin, arsenic and other toxins from a Rayonier pulp mill, which operated for 68 years before it closed in 1997, putting nearly 400 out of work.
Harbor-Works was created to acquire Rayonier’s 75-acre former mill site and redevelop the property, as well as assist in the environmental cleanup of the land, which has been overseen by the state Department of Ecology since 2000.
Before residences could be placed on the site, it would have to be cleaned to a higher standard than for industrial use.
Created by the city of Port Angeles in May 2008, Harbor-Works is jointly funded by the city and the Port of Port Angeles. The city and Port have loaned Harbor-Works a total of $1.3 million.
Harbor-Works will determine whether or not to acquire the property by next August, Lincoln has said, adding that central to the decision will be the results of a $380,460 process called “due diligence” — a study of how feasible it would be to redevelop the land.
Alternative B
On Tuesday, the board lingered on Alternative B, which was an option that hadn’t been brought up in previous analyses, Lincoln said.
“This is a game-changing scenario because it would change the market,” Lincoln said.
West of Ennis Creek, the property could contain areas for marine activity and mixed use — which would include retail and residential.
East of Ennis Creek — where Y’innis was presumed to have been — a cultural research facility and museum, with an area for other potential Native American cultural connections such as a longhouse or a totem park, is proposed.
“Instead of looking at these cultural resources that potentially exist there as a negative thing that are stopping us from moving forward, why don’t we look at how we could gain from what is actually here?” Lincoln said.
Lincoln said that beginning to market cultural tourism — as opposed to the already-established eco-tourism — would need to be evaluated and discussed with local tribes to determine the feasibility.
“This would change the market analysis that is being done now,” he said.
“If this option were selected, it would be saying that there is an opportunity to do some amazing things to the maximum benefit of the impacted area.
“Instead of looking at the artifacts as a negative thing, it is embracing the site’s constraints to the benefit of the community. The idea behind this, is saying that they aren’t a disadvantage, but a reason for us to do something.”
Frances Charles, chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, who attended Tuesday’s Harbor-Works meeting, said the concept needed more discussion and planning, but that she was open to the idea.
“I also know that our neighboring tribes are also very interested in partnering in this idea,” she said.
The Jamestown S’Klallam have expressed interest in the site.
Although such a center might draw tourism, it might not yield the high-paying jobs that were hoped for.
“Tourism doesn’t always give us those family-wage jobs,” Lincoln said. “But it is something that we might be able to harness into other jobs as well.”
Marina, jobs
Alternative C included an area for a marina, with the land west of Ennis Creek largely dedicated to a marine terminal area, along with some mixed uses of retail and residential.
“In this alternative, we are really talking about the concerns that we all have about the local economy and jobs,” Lincoln said.
“So this one proposes bringing in some marine industries, because what we want is to have high-quality, family-wage jobs that enable young people to stay and attract new people.”
The area to the east of Ennis Creek would be an area of industrial use.
Lincoln listed possible problems as the risk of running into the Native American artifacts in the area, and the cost of building a marina.
Alternative A
Alternative A has been the most discussed, Lincoln said.
“This looks very much like the wish list that was developed in the 2007 analysis,” he said.
It includes an area for marine work — though not a marina — as well as office space, residential and retail.
“What we need to look very carefully at is the potential impacts of the development on the business core of Port Angeles,” Lincoln said.
“Although this is an isolated site, its impacts are not isolated.”
As with Alternative C, it would include an industrial area east of Ennis Creek.
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.