PORT ANGELES — Chronic power outages, timber supply uncertainty and expanding state planning mandates continue to shape economic and civic life on the West End, Forks city attorney Rod Fleck told members of the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday.
The challenges facing Forks and the West End reflect a broader tension between statewide policy goals and rural realities, Fleck said.
Fleck, who also serves as Forks’ planner and prosecuting attorney, described repeated weather-related electrical outages tied to Clallam County PUD and Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines as one of the most persistent challenges for residents and businesses.
He said outages typically last eight to 12 hours, with recent storms knocking out power twice within a 24-hour period. The lack of redundancy in the transmission system create vulnerabilities that are difficult and prohibitively expensive to resolve.
While Clallam County PUD crews can quickly identify where failures occur, repairs to BPA lines often require crews to be dispatched from Olympia, Fleck said.
“It takes roughly 31/2 to four hours to get to the site,” Fleck said, adding that discussions about a secondary transmission line — estimated at about $80 million — have stalled because of cost, and federal land and easement constraints.
The reliability issue, Fleck said, poses a particular challenge for economic development, as businesses considering relocation often question whether their operations can withstand repeated outages.
While some facilities rely on generators, he said the uncertainty complicates efforts to attract industrial employers to the West End.
Despite those challenges, Fleck said Forks recently took a significant step toward restoring manufacturing jobs by finalizing a lease agreement with Riverside Forest Products. The company, which operates a mill in Surrey, B.C., plans to consolidate Interfor’s former Beaver sawmill and Forks planer mill into a single location, restoring a major manufacturing presence lost when the mills closed.
The project is expected to pay an average wage of about $34 an hour — a significant figure in a community where household incomes remain about 65 percent below the state average.
“That’s a big deal in Forks,” Fleck said.
The long-term success of the mills and other wood product businesses depend heavily on timber supply and state land management decisions, Fleck said. He described ambiguity surrounding the state Department of Natural Resources’ sustainable harvest calculations, which are updated every decade but are running behind schedule.
These calculations determine how much timber is offered for sale on state trust lands and create revenue to support schools, fire districts, hospitals, libraries and other junior taxing districts. Shortfalls or delays in harvest volumes can have immediate financial consequences for local governments, particularly in rural communities where timber revenue represents a larger share of funding than it does in urban areas.
Fleck said Forks continues to grapple with the expanding scope of the Growth Management Act, the state law that requires counties and cities to concentrate development in designated areas while protecting rural land, natural resources and critical environmental areas.
While the law originally was intended to promote locally driven planning, he said lawmakers have increasingly imposed uniform requirements on cities regardless of size.
He said recent housing mandates and building-code changes — driven by energy-efficiency standards and seismic requirements — have added between $120,000 and $130,000 to the cost of constructing a single-family home. While those measures are intended to reduce long-term costs, Fleck said they create affordability barriers for young families and first-time buyers in Forks.
Fleck also highlighted Forks’ charity efforts, describing them as “amazing, remarkable events” that reflect community values and pride.
The annual Soroptimist Festival of Trees auction, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, raised more than $30,000 in a single evening through the sale of trees and from donations, Fleck said.
The Quillayute Valley School District scholarship auction, which began decades ago to help a local student complete dental school, raised $125,000 this year. Scholarships are available to Forks High School graduates pursuing college, trade school or workforce training, regardless of when they graduated.
He said the community consistently supports education through voter-approved school levies and investment in school facilities, such as the new Forks Stadium.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
