PORT ANGELES — Clallam County plans to surplus more than a dozen properties.
Tim Dalton, the county’s housing and grant resource director, detailed 13 properties on Monday that have been identified to be surplussed to the county commissioners during their work session.
“We have identified a number of properties that do not seem to fall within the critical mission of the county and are not part of the road system,” according to county documents. “It seems the best option for the county is to declare these properties surplus and dispose of them to the public.”
The move will get the properties back onto the county’s tax rolls to generate income.
The properties recommended for surplus are all over Clallam County, from Sequim to Clallam Bay, Dalton told the commissioners.
“There’s this and that reason why the county has not done anything with these properties as we move forward,” Dalton said.
Five are less than 1 acre in size. The largest property is a 23.6-acre parcel zoned for neighborhood conservation on U.S. Highway 101 and Sieberts Creek Road in Port Angeles. The list also includes a 9.7-acre parcel zoned for commercial forest on South Old Mill Road in Port Angeles, a 6.4-acre parcel zoned for R5 at Herrick Road and Highway 101 in Port Angeles, a 4.9-acre parcel zoned for neighborhood conservation at Highway 101 and Old Olympic Highway in Port Angeles, and a 4.5-acre parcel at state Highway 112 and Oxenford Road in Clallam Bay.
Many of the properties include wetlands on them, but several are buildable properties, Dalton said.
“We’re not bringing any properties that we feel cannot be used,” he said. “There’s no sense surplussing a property that nobody’s gonna buy.”
In the past, the county’s process to sell surplussed properties has included listing them with local realtors, having them appraised, coming up with a market value and then listing them for sale, commissioners were told.
Cemetery grant
During the meeting, commissioners also heard about a grant being submitted to the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation for the Historic Cemetery Preservation Capital Grant Program for the Port Crescent Cemetery.
The program is intended to preserve the state’s historical heritage, according to county documents.
Parks, Fair & Facilities Director Don Crawford explained to the commissioners that he was helping the Port Crescent cemetery board with the grant application, which is for about $50,000, he said.
If the grant is awarded, it will support the replacement or refurbishment of the interpretive sign at the cemetery as well as the replacement or refurbishment of the flagpole, including illumination for the flag, potential improvements to the perimeter fence and pedestrian gate, possible refurbishment of headstones and for potential soil grading and tree replacements to enhance the grounds.
The grant program seems to give emphasis to rural areas, Crawford said.
Road closure
Commissioners also heard about county engineering closing East Beach Road on Wednesday between mileposts 2.10 and 3.18 due to rockfall and debris caused by the heavy rains that hit Washington last week. The road reopened Thursday.
“I went out there this morning and had a look at it,” Public Works Deputy Director/County Engineer Joe Donisi said. “The rockfall’s doing pretty good. It hasn’t expanded.”
With the weather that’s expected throughout the next two weeks, commissioners were warned they might be called if emergencies such as mudslides require county staff to close other roads.
“Anything can happen at any day, and we will take precautions to close the road as we did on Wednesday,” Donisi said.
Donisi said the county routinely has slides that temporarily close roads.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
