PORT ANGELES — The former Walmart building east of Port Angeles has been approved to house an unnamed wood cabinet manufacturing business that will support up to 200 jobs.
Clallam County Hearing Examiner pro-tem Lauren Erickson issued a conditional-use permit to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. last month.
“The marketing of the property has a process,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Delia Garcia said Friday in an interview.
“There is a potential sale. We don’t have a time frame.”
Garcia would not name the cabinet-making company and declined further comment.
Port Angeles engineer Steve Zenovic filed the application for a conditional-use permit on behalf of the retail giant.
“My role was [to say], ‘Here is what we want here, here’s what we want to do,’” he said Friday.
“I understand they have a specific company in mind, but I’m not privy to who it is.”
The 130,000-square-foot building at 3500 E. U.S. Highway 101 has been empty since the company opened the 181,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter at 3471 E. Kolonels Way in October 2010.
The Supercenter is across Highway 101 from the now-empty, older Walmart building.
“It is highly unlikely that the property owners will lease or sell the property to a competing large retail business, even if such a business wanted to place a store in that location,” Erickson wrote in her decision.
Bill Greenwood, executive director of the Clallam County Economic Development Council, said Friday that the EDC had not been contacted by Wal-Mart about a cabinet-making company moving into the giant building.
“This is great news for the county,” Greenwood said.
He predicted there would not be a problem in finding 200 local workers for the plant.
“They could be trained, theoretically, at [Peninsula] College,” Greenwood said.
The wood cabinet manufacturing business would modify the interior of the old Walmart building and install a dust collector system and small storage building on the 24-acre parcel, according to the conditional-use permit.
The dust collector would be about 300 feet from the Dollar Store and about 550 feet from the View Vista mobile home park.
“There is already a buffer between the mobile home park and the building,” Erickson wrote in her Feb. 2 decision.
“The primary issue will be noise, but noise levels are regulated by state law and can be mitigated to appropriate levels for residential areas,” she said.
State law requires that noise from the manufacturing business not exceed 57 decibels at residential developments and 60 decibels at commercial properties.
To meet the conditions of approval, the noise from the dust collector must stay within range.
“If the sound levels are found to be too high, there is sufficient space around the dust collector to install additional sound mitigating techniques,” Erickson wrote.
No new outside lighting will be added.
Hours of manufacturing would be between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. with 200 employees working at full production. Information on the days of operation was unavailable Friday.
In addition to the noise restrictions, Wal-Mart must obtain a commercial building permit for the 46-foot-tall dust collector system and storage building.
The storage building will stock solvents and other finish materials.
The conditional-use permit also hinges on a state air quality permit from the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency.
If the use is not fully developed and operational within three years, the application becomes void.
Arkansas-based Wal-Mart had been trying to sell the building and land for $2.95 million.
The 24.3 acres of land and the building are valued at $3.8 million for 2015 taxes.
But the value is expected to be lowered later this year to $2.95 million based on recent information Wal-Mart supplied to the county Assessor’s Office, county Assessor Pam Rushton said Friday.
The application process cost Wal-Mart about $3,000, Zenovic said.
The relatively low permit cost for a company of Wal-Mart’s size “gives that flexibility, if it falls apart,” Zenovic said.
Sales tax generated from the cabinet manufacturing business would be split evenly between Clallam County and the city of Port Angeles because the building is located within the city’s urban growth area.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
