PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Housing Authority has laid out some goals for the future redevelopment of the Mount Angeles View neighborhood in southeast Port Angeles.
Chief among those are community engagement in the planning process, and integrating the new Mount Angeles View with the surrounding neighborhood.
“One of the things we’ve heard from the steering committee and from all of the residents we’ve talked to . . . is to promote that connectivity to the surrounding neighborhood,” said Matt Sullivan, project manager for Mithun, the Seattle-based design firm helping the housing authority develop a master plan.
“You want this to feel integrated with the entire Port Angeles community.”
Long-range plans include a complete redevelopment of the 18.5-acre community between Lauridsen Boulevard and Park Avenue west of Peabody Creek.
Fitness center, trails
In a public meeting on Tuesday, Mount Angeles View residents and nonresidents suggested having a fitness center, trail system and a community garden in the new development.
The 100 units at Mount Angeles View were built in 1941. Sullivan said the sewer, water and electrical systems need to be replaced.
“Overall, you have a system that’s at the end of its useful life,” Sullivan said.
“It’s limping along — held together with duct tape.”
Traffic has also been an issue. Buses don’t drive into the neighborhood because they can’t turn around.
Ultimately, the housing authority wants to expand the neighborhood to include housing for medium-income residents, while retaining current levels of subsidized housing.
Lisa Folkins, Mithun lead planner, said current zoning allows for 238 units on the site, which opens the possibility of building modern townhouses and adding shops to the new development.
The financing phase will begin after a master plan is developed and submitted to the city of Port Angeles.
Construction for the project is at least three years away, said Kay Kassinger, housing resource and development manager for the Housing Authority of Clallam County.
When the neighborhood is finally rebuilt, the housing authority will help each family develop a personalized relocation plan, Kassinger said.
An 18-member steering committee, which includes Mount Angeles View residents, is helping to determine what the new neighborhood will look like.
February meeting
The housing authority will have another public meeting in February to discuss a preferred alternative for the master plan.
Sullivan described Mount Angeles View as an asset to the community, with excellent views and good access to schools and Olympic National Park.
“This site has that proximity to all that energy and traffic and tourists,” Sullivan said, referring to the 900,000 to 1.4 million visitors who drive to Hurricane Ridge every year.
“We want to see what can we do with that to try to create opportunity for people who live here. . . . One of the goals that we actually have proposed is to try to promote and facilitate a connection between that waterfront trail and the Olympic National Park trails.”
Above all else, Sullivan said the new Mount Angeles View neighborhood should make people feel proud to live there — “basically, try to remove any kind of stigma that living at Mount Angeles View would have in the surrounding community.
“We want to make sure that it’s perceived as no different, and in fact is perceived as a place that people want to come to. It’s almost a magnet for activity for Port Angeles.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
