By Arwyn Rice
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — A difference of opinion over what should be funded for a revamped Lincoln Park — and who should fund it — could derail the port’s plans to restore full use of the adjacent airport runway.
Port of Port Angeles commissioners reviewed the amended Lincoln Park Master Plan approved by the Port Angeles City Council last week.
And they rejected the city’s proposal of an additional $7.5 million in park improvements and a requirement that the city review plans again before tall trees in the runway approach to the port’s William R. Fairchild International Airport can be cut.
The plan’s $14.2 million first phase includes trails, a clubhouse, restroom and two playgrounds and entry to the central park and fairgrounds area from the south.
“We wouldn’t even consider spending $7 million on amenities like a park when we have mitigation,” said Port Commissioner John Calhoun, referring to environmental cleanup of the Port Angeles Harbor and the former Peninsula Plywood site.
Instead, the port commissioners instructed its staff to begin looking for other options to keep the runway operational for the long term.
The eastern 1,300 feet of Fairchild Airport’s 6,347-foot main runway are blocked because of the tall fir trees of Lincoln Park to the east.
“Our obligation as port commissioners is to keep the runway viable,” Calhoun said.
The commissioners said they want to approve the original $6.7 million Phase 1 of the Lincoln Park Master Plan, which would cut hundreds of Douglas fir trees in the densely wooded park, regrade and replant the park with low-canopy trees that won’t grow into the approach to the main runway.
“The port is engaged in the initial phase — clearing, grading and revegetation,” said Commissioner Jim Hallett of Port Angeles.
Nothing else, Hallett and the other commissioners said.
“In three to five years only very small aircraft will be able to use [the runway],” Port Commissioner Paul McHugh said.
City Council members made it clear July 16 that they expect the port, not the city, to be responsible for securing funding for the work before proposed improvements begin on the city’s largest park.
The council also wanted assurance that no trees will be removed from the 147 acres without the environmental assessment and additional council approval.
The Federal Aviation Administration agreed to funding much of Phase 1, and the port has paid for the development of most of the $145,513 master plan, created by the Seattle-based landscape architecture firm Hough, Beck and Baird.
Additional phases developed for the park’s rehabilitation aren’t the port’s responsibility, but the port could help the city secure grant funding to develop those plans in the future, Hallett suggested.
McHugh disagreed, and suggested that the port begin looking into other options to keep the airport’s runway open for larger aircraft.
“I’m not sure there’s anything to talk about with the city. We’ve reached the end of this path,” he said.
Pressure from some city residents who want a fully redeveloped park with all of the amenities, expressed in a series of public forums, has influenced the council’s decision to hold out for at least some improvements, not just replacement of felled trees, council members said.
An $800,000 federal grant that was to be used for the next step toward the implementation of the master plan must be used by the end of summer 2014.
The delay in getting an acceptable master plan approved by the City Council could divert those funds elsewhere, said Jerry Ludke, marina and airport manager.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.