PORT ANGELES — Washington Alder officials say they are looking forward to setting up their new Port Angeles Hardwood division and building an alder processing mill at the Eclipse Industrial Park.
“A lot of good things will happen here because of this sawmill,” said Washington Alder president Richard Tinney in a Friday interview.
The sawmill will provide 95 jobs with a $7 million payroll plus up to 100 people involved in construction, Tinney said.
Construction bids will go out statewide, but company officials intend to hire locally as much as possible, he said.
Port Angeles Hardwood LLC, a division of Mount Vernon-based Washington Alder, expects to begin construction of the $23 million mill early next year and begin operation by early 2006.
Washington Alder officials announced last week that the Port Angeles Hardwood sawmill originally slated for the 113-acre former Critchfield property near Fairchild International Airport instead will be built on a 30-acre site in Eclipse Industrial Park.
The company’s plans to build the sawmill on the former site raised objections from neighboring residents, who formed the Dry Creek Coalition to oppose the project.
Tinney said the Eclipse Industrial Park was the first site Washington Alder seriously considered when officials were scouting locations in Clallam County for their new sawmill.
But it wasn’t for sale under their terms and conditions, so they looked elsewhere, he said.