PORT ANGELES — For the second time, the Clallam County Opportunity Fund Advisory Board has voted unanimously to recommend $285,952 in grant funding for a $17 million downtown waterfront project.
The panel endorsed the grant application 6-0 Thursday after a presentation by Nathan West, city community and economic development director.
The board had voted 5-0 April 28 to recommend to county commissioners that they approve the city’s request.
The reconsideration came in light of county commissioners’ decision to delay the allocation after county Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis prodded them into rewinding the approval process.
She contends it requires a public hearing and signed contracts.
She made the same argument about the Port of Port Angeles’ $1 million Opportunity Fund grant proposal to supplement the $4 million needed to complete the port’s unfinished Composite Recycling Technology Center building.
The Opportunity Fund board will consider the port’s application at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Room 208 of the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center, 905 W. Ninth St., Port Angeles.
Slated for substantial completion by Sept. 5, the 1.5-acre park at Railroad Avenue and Oak Street has two sandy pocket beaches, plazas and northern and southern connections to Olympic Discovery Trail.
West told the advisory board that the grant, made up of sales tax proceeds returned by the state to the county, would fund creation event space and completion of the trail component and of critical access to the port’s Terminal 4 pier.
The project was roundly praised as helping the city realize the waterfront’s unfulfilled promise as a draw for residents and tourists alike.
“This is a sleeping asset that we have,” advisory board Chairman Alan Barnard said.
City Councilman Patrick Downie said he has heard countless times from citizens about the need for more waterfront access.
“The use of the word opportunity is extraordinarily apropos to provide an opportunity to experience Port Angeles in a very special way,” Downie said.
City Councilwoman Cherie Kidd chaired the city-sponsored PA Forward committee that inspired the waterfront project.
“We have to upgrade to improve our waterfront for the sake of people who live here, for the sake of people who come to our community, and allow the people of our community the potential to grow,” she said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
