PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles City Council will consider today a two-year lease with the Port of Port Angeles to house the parks maintenance crew until a new city facility is built on West 16th Street.
The city would pay the port $5,152 per month for a 10,000-square-foot space at 2007 S. O St. near William R. Fairchild International Airport if council members approve the lease agreement on their consent agenda today.
A large fir tree fell on the city parks shop at 1310 W. 16th St. during a windstorm Dec. 14, 2018, destroying the building at the northeast corner of Lincoln Park.
A new parks shop will be constructed on the same site after the original building is demolished in the first quarter of 2020, said Aubry Bright of the city Parks and Recreation Department.
Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc has been working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to recover costs from the 2018 windstorm, Bright said.
“As part of the emergency, FEMA has confirmed that it will cover the rental cost of $5,152 per month, along with utilities, until the new Park Shop has been built,” Bright said in a memo to the City Council.
The city parks maintenance crew has been stationed in various locations since the windstorm.
The port building was previously occupied by a business that moved out of town, Bright said.
“This facility is approximately 10,000 square feet and has secured fencing, allowing staff to safely park city vehicles and equipment,” Bright said in a memo to the council.
“The lease agreement is for two years at $5,152 per month and is renewable if the construction of the new Park Shop Building has not been completed by the end of the agreement.”
Last July, the City Council purchased an unassembled prefabricated metal building from Platypus Marine Inc. to be used for the new parks maintenance shop. The cost was $160,436.
Platypus agreed to sell the General Steel building to the city for 50 cents on the dollar after it secured another location for its expanded operations, city officials have said.
The Dec. 14, 2018, windstorm knocked down multiple trees in Lincoln Park and resulted in a power outage that affected all of Clallam County.
No one was inside the park maintenance building when a giant fir crashed through the roof and destroyed the framework, Parks Director Corey Delikat said after the storm.
The council meeting today will begin at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
