PORT ANGELES — Sprint boats could be racing through tight turns at 80 mph on a North Olympic Peninsula course by May, if all goes as planned with permitting and an environmental assessment, one of the developers said.
Dan Morrison, one of four investors who bought the 113-acre South Fairchild Industrial Park for $1,050,000 from the Port of Port Angeles in August, said that the group hopes to have permitting and construction finished by May, but that it can’t set a firm date.
“It is such a blue sky prediction at this point, because we are right in the middle of it,” he said.
The investors, called the Dan Morrison Group, also have 22 acres of the land for sale.
The 4-acre sprint boat race course on land southwest of William R. Fairchild International Airport would be 3 feet deep and 15 feet wide, and filled with 500,000 to 750,000 gallons of water.
Don Zozosky, another of the investors, said he would not comment on the source of the water until the group is farther along in the permitting process.
The property has three wells.
Environmental assessment
Morrison said that, at the recommendation of the city, the investors will have a full environmental assessment done.
“It isn’t necessarily required, but if you don’t do it, as soon as you start, someone will start asking about the mosquitoes or something like that, so it is better to just do it,” he said.
“I’m just trying to make sure we are ready to do this for the long haul.”
Permits needed
Nathan West, Port Angeles director of community development, said that the Dan Morrison Group must return a checklist for the State Environmental Policy Act, apply for an unclassified use permit and return a wetland delineation.
The checklist evaluates the environmental impact of the activities on the property.
Once that is completed, the level of impact, and whether that impact is acceptable, will be determined, West said.
The planning commission then will make a recommendation about the permit to the Port Angeles City Council, which will decide whether or not to approve it.
Selling land
Twenty-two acres of the land, which is southwest of William R. Fairchild International Airport, are now on the market, but the Dan Morrison Group isn’t aggressively trying to sell the plot.
“We actually wanted to buy about 60 acres, but the port wanted to sell all of it together,” Morrison said.
“I doubt that those acres will sell, but we put them out there to see what the response would be.”
The boat course and parking lot could take 5 or6 acres.
The group is unsure what will be done with the rest of the land.
“We don’t really have any firm plans yet,” Morrison said.
“We’re just trying to get this off the ground.”
Said Zozosky: “There’s nothing set in stone with what we’re going to do with the rest of the property. Our first concern is getting our race track going.”
Promotion
As the permit paperwork is filled out, the group — made up of Morrison, Zozosky and Josh Armstrong of Port Angeles, and Scott Ackerman of Colfax — continues to promote Port Angeles as a future site of sprint boat racing, Morrison said.
This month, the group attended boat shows in Seattle and Tacoma.
“We had people lined up to talk to us,” he said.
“It is pretty amazing when there are four people at each booth and 25 people at yours.”
Morrison, who up until last year didn’t own his own boat, won the national championship held in Albany, Ore. last fall.
“It is really exhilarating,” he said.
“For those who haven’t seen it live, and when the boats can make the turns at 70 mph, it really makes your eyeballs tell your brain that it just isn’t possible.”
Prior objections
Port Angeles city representatives had objected to the sale before port commissioners approved it in August.
City officials were eyeing the 113 acres for a possible land swap in the event that Lincoln Park were relocated, and wanted the sale delayed until the port had finished its airport master plan.
If, in that plan, the port said it would reclaim an unused 1,350 feet of runway, then it could mean that trees would have to be removed from Lincoln Park to fulfill Federal Aviation Administration requirements for runway approaches, port officials have said.
Jeff Robb, port aviation and marinas director, said in October that he expected to port to know in April if it would request that more trees be removed from the park.
In 2007, 350 trees were removed from the park to meet FAA requirements.
Robb also said in October that the port ‘s concern is for the trees and not the park facilities or the nearby ball fields, BMX track, and Clallam County Fairgrounds. Whether or not the park’s facilities exist too close to the runway, “is an issue for the city to decide,” he said then.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
