PORT TOWNSEND — City Manager David Timmons plans eventually to ask the City Council to create a public development authority to help keep the Customs House a public building.
He has no date in mind for the request, he said on Friday.
The Customs House, built in 1893, is owned by the U.S. Postal Service. Postal Service representatives have said for more than a year that they want to get out of the business of owning buildings, in order to stay competitive with other parcel services.
Also, the Customs House isn’t laid out properly for a postal service, representatives have said.
The building’s stairs are challenging or impossible for some disabled people, and the Postal Service has been petitioned by Port Townsend residents to make the building accessible to the handicap — a requirement for federal buildings but an expensive process.
Timmons told elected officials at Thursday night’s joint meeting between Port Townsend City Council and Jefferson County commissioners that talks between the city and the Postal Service to facilitate some a transfer of buildings was proceeding well.
Friday, Timmons expanded on how such a transfer could be done.
“So far, the Postal Service has been a real excellent partner,” Timmons said. “They paid for a study to the building to be done. The report came back and said the building was in great shape, so they have done a great job of being a custodian of the building.”
Timmons said the city doesn’t want to purchase the building, since it has no need for it.
Historic PDA
A public development authority would allow the city to facilitate transfers of important buildings from one party to another in an effort to keep public assets out of private hands, he said.
While the city wouldn’t own the buildings themselves, it would be able to guarantee that historic buildings remained in good hands.
“It’s analogous to a land trust,” Timmons said. “But this is more of a historic trust.”
“The key is that we will facilitate the transfer,” Timmons said. “The council has the power to create a public development authority. I believe we want to go beyond just the Post Office building.”
County Commissioner David Sullivan, D-Cape George, said he would like to see the city continue to work on an agreement concerning the Customs House, and include county staff in the process.
“[The Customs House] might fit some of our needs for offices such as public works,” Sullivan said. “I’d like to see where this goes.”
A transfer would solve some of the Postal Services’ problems at the Customs House.
The study conducted on the building’s condition found that there may be a way to install an elevator inside the building to make it handicap accessible, Timmons said.
“It’s a solution — an expensive one, but it is a solution,” he said.
By moving out of the building and into a leased location in the city, the Postal Service could save money in the long run.
In return, the Postal Service would likely sell the building to a buyer agreeable to the city, for as little as $1, Timmons said.
Ernie Swanson, spokesman for the Postal Service, was unavailable for comment on Friday.
However, Swanson has expressed interest in the past on working with the city.
“We have a tentative agreement with the city,” Swanson said.
“We are looking at an agreement with the city of Port Townsend to allow the postal service to continue with some operations at the Washington Street location, and come up with a site where our carriers could work out of called a carrier annex.”
Jefferson County
The key is the annex, something Timmons said could likely be facilitated in part with Jefferson County.
The county owns land near the Port Townsend Business Park off Howard street which is being considered.
Timmons said the next step would be for the City Council to pass an ordinance creating a Public Development Authority and to continue talks with the Postal Service.
No dates are set, as yet, he said.
“There is a lot of potential here just by looking at this,” he said.
“It’s a historic building and we could actually have a fully functioning, historic courtroom restored in the building.
“It’s still all there, so there is a lot of opportunity.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
