PORT ANGELES — After a display of overwhelming community support for Westport Shipyards and its promise of 200 family-wage jobs, Port of Port Angeles commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to sell Westport the three acres it wants on the waterfront.
It was a surprise vote, and it came after the commissioners and a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people listened to residents and business leaders speak in support of building Westport’s new luxury yacht-building facility in Port Angeles.
But city and port officials in Anacortes are also bidding for the facility, and Westport officials will now go to a similar public hearing in Anacortes on Thursday.
The company will decide within the next two weeks between Port Angeles and Anacortes.
“Is there any reason you’d leave us at the altar?” yelled a woman from the audience.
“Certainly nothing based on what I heard tonight,” responded Larry Nelson, Westport Shipyard’s vice president for administration.
Smiling broadly, Nelson said he was “overwhelmed” by the hearing.
“I didn’t expect 100 percent support or the turnout,” he said.
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