PORT ANGELES — City Council candidates Charlie McCaughan and Doc Robinson differed on off-street parking requirements, annexation and a proposed sales tax increase for affordable housing in a Tuesday forum.
McCaughan and Robinson, who are running for Port Angeles City Council Position 5, agreed during the Port Angeles Business Association forum that homelessness and drug addiction are the two biggest issues facing the city.
The 58-minute debate at the association’s weekly breakfast meeting at Joshua’s Restaurant included questions from members on traffic safety cameras and the fate of the Lincoln Park trees near William R. Fairchild Memorial Airport.
McCaughan, who will be 63 on general election day, is procurement and facilities supervisor at Clallam County Public Utility District.
Robinson, 66 as of Nov. 5, is executive director of Serenity House of Clallam County.
The two are vying for the seat being vacated by Council Member Michael Merideth, who did not seek re-election.
Robinson said the proposed one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax increase for affordable housing initiatives “makes all the sense in the world.”
“But the real question is how will be it be administered in the city, and I want to be a part of that,” Robinson said.
The sales tax proposal will appear as Proposition 1 for voters within the city limits in November.
“We have to make sure that we apply these funds so that we’re really doing affordable housing,” Robinson said, “and I see the leverage for that in assisting builders with clearing the requirements in order to do projects.”
McCaughan said he would vote against the measure.
“There’s really no clear message where they’re going to spend the dollars right now,” McCaughan said.
If approved by voters, the sales tax rate in the city would rise from 8.7 percent to 8.8 percent. It would raise an estimated $325,000 per year for affordable housing projects, city officials said.
“How far will that really go?” McCaughan asked.
“If you bring the public prevailing wage into it, it’s not going to go very far. They’re going to have to do something with it that’s kept on the private sector. Otherwise I just don’t see it going very far.”
According to a fact sheet on Proposition 1, which appears on the city’s website, www.cityofpa.us, revenue from the sales tax increase, if approved, could be used on new construction of affordable housing, rehabilitation of existing housing into affordable housing or construction of infrastructure required for affordable housing development.
The candidates were asked to comment on Council member Mike French’s recent proposal to eliminate off-street parking requirements in the city, which failed in a 4-3 council vote Sept. 3.
“I do know that it was brought with good intentions,” said McCaughan, noting that French was in the audience.
“At this time, I like the way it’s being handled.”
Last week, the council voted to allow property owners within 1,000 feet of the Parking and Business Improvement Area to make PBIA assessment payments to meet off-street parking requirements.
The seven-member council may consider off-street parking requirements after three new members are seated in January 2020.
“It’s being passed on to a process and it’s going to be talked about further, and I think that’s the best way to approach these types of situations,” McCaughan said.
Robinson said he would favor “cutting back” off-street parking regulations.
“Parking’s an issue downtown, but what we’re seeing going on out there is merchants aren’t able to develop because of all the parking rules, all the requirements for parking spaces,” Robinson said.
“For now, in our town, I’m in favor of development and getting out of the way of restrictions that slow us down. We need to create jobs way more than we need to create parking spaces.”
McCaughan said he would favor annexation to the west of the city because of the existing infrastructure and industrial base.
Robinson said he is generally opposed to annexation given other priorities.
When asked to identify the top two issues facing the city, the candidates agreed that homelessness and drug addiction are major challenges and common complaints of city residents.
“People are talking about it everywhere,” Robinson said.
“I have a tent city growing on the grounds of my shelter. The shelter is within just a few beds of being at fire code capacity, which we’ve never done before.”
Robinson said the solution to homelessness and drug addiction is job training and economic development.
“And we have to move fast and use all available means,” Robinson said.
McCaughan said opioid addiction is a “huge problem” in Port Angeles and other cities across the nation.
“You cannot do a thing about it until the people want help,” McCaughan said.
McCaughan said the city should continue to invest in programs like REdisCOVERY, a partnership between the police department and Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic in which a social worker is embedded with an officer to connect people on the streets with medical services and resources that could help them avoid the court system.
“They all have different stories,” McCaughan said of the homeless population. “I don’t like to see them all put in one basket as drug addicts.”
The Position 5 candidates each said they were opposed to traffic safety cameras.
City Police Chief Brian Smith has provided information to the council on how the cameras have reduced collisions in school zones and busy intersections in Lake Forest Park. The council has not been asked to vote on traffic safety cameras in Port Angeles.
“I’m against traffic cameras,” McCaughan said. “Many states have found that they just don’t work.”
Said Robinson: “This technology scares me.”
“Very succinctly, we have enough big brother,” he added. “The problem isn’t that they record the event. The problem is what they do with the data afterwards, and how long it’s stored, and who it’s shared with, and we just don’t know.”
The candidates also agreed that the city should remove and replace trees in Lincoln Park that interfere with the flight path to Runway 26 at William R. Fairchild Memorial Airport.
“This is a public safety problem,” McCaughan said. “Let’s harvest the trees. If they’re in the flight path, harvest them, take the money, plant more appropriate trees, open up the park.”
Robinson said maintaining the aviation easement “seems like a no brainer. We need to trim the trees to the point that they’re not a threat to aviation,” Robinson said.
“If that means taking them all the way down, then we take them all the way down.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
