PORT ANGELES — The California company seeking to lease waterfront property from Daishowa America will ask Port officials how to proceed next after it was rebuffed by Daishowa officials.
Representatives of Santa Maria Shipping LLC, a five-year-old company based in Santa Rosa, Calif., told Port of Port Angeles commissioners Monday they want to lease 10 acres near the Boat Haven to employ up to 65 people to build one 300-foot container ship that would sail between California and Hawaii.
But commissioners told them that the Port has no control over the property and that they should be talking with Daishowa.
The commissioners also noted that Port officials have been negotiating with Daishowa to buy the land — but that they couldn’t talk any further about that because they had signed a nondisclosure agreement.
On Tuesday, Daishowa Resident Mill Manager Harold Norlund issued a written statement that confirmed that Daishowa is in negotiations with the Port.
It said the paper mill had began discussions with the Port in the fall of 2002 regarding use of the company’s 18-acre Marine Drive property.
“The Port desires the site to further economic development of the Port Angeles Harbor,” the statement said.
“Daishowa America has determined a potential sale of the property to the Port of Port Angeles is in the best interests of the community.”
The statement concluded by saying the company would negotiate exclusively with the Port and would not disclose details of those discussions.
—————
The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition. Click on SUBSCRIBE, at top of this page, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.