PORT TOWNSEND — Drivers traveling in and out of Port Townsend will be greeted by a landscaped visitors area that will orient them to the town if a proposed project comes to fruition.
City Manager David Timmons told about 50 people of plans for the area of 2455 Sims Way during a Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce gathering Tuesday.
The plan includes the demolition of a building last used as a visitors center in 2009 and its replacement with a public restroom, four new parking areas including an electric charging station, landscaping the asphalt triangular area between Sims Way and Jefferson Street, creating new bike lanes and crosswalks, and cutting the now-dead-end Thayer Street through to Washington Street to create a thoroughfare.
“This will become more than a sea of asphalt,” Timmons said.
“It will create a special place where people will want to stop and gives us an opportunity to make a difference in how people see the town when they arrive.”
Much is now undetermined about the project, including its scope, cost and timing, although Timmons said “we could start doing something next year.”
The plans were discussed during a chamber rebranding presentation at 2409 Jefferson St., which has been its office location for a year.
The rebranding process began with the June 2015 move of chamber headquarters from the Haines Place Park and Ride at 440 12th St. to its new location, according to Executive Director Teresa Verraes.
After the Northwind Arts Center relocated downtown in early 2015, the chamber moved to its former space.
Simultaneously, Jefferson Transit finished construction of its new Four Corners facility, where it moved operations into the space vacated by the chamber at the park and ride.
At the new location, the chamber is sharing an expanded space with the Jefferson County Home Builders Association and the Washington Small Business Development Center, Economic Development Council Team Jefferson and the visitors center.
On Tuesday, Timmons said the multiple moves worked “because I made everyone homeless and gave them all a new home.”
The plans presented Tuesday are suggestions, Timmons said, depending on financial support and the development of a satisfactory conceptual design.
“We don’t know what that will look like, whether it’s a paved road, a parking lot or just a gravel road,” he said.
“We need to have a place where people can turn around.”
Timmons said the project would probably be constructed in phases as funding is secured.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
