PORT TOWNSEND — The city’s comprehensive plan and the development of the Howard Street corridor are two top priorities for Port Townsend’s new planning director.
Lance Bailey, 53, who last worked for the city of Ellensburg, began work in his new position Monday morning.
“This is a good place to be,” Bailey said.
“I’ve been getting familiar with current processes and I’ve been reading a lot, although it will take a little while to get up to speed.”
Port Townsend will update its comprehensive plan over the next three years, and so the successful applicant for the planning director job needed to be familiar with state law and Growth Management Act requirements, City Manager David Timmons said.
A $6.5 million extension of Howard Street to Discovery Road could be completed as early as the end of this year, Timmons has said.
Bailey takes over five months after Rick Sepler left the post.
Sepler, who is now Bellingham’s planning director, supervised parks, which has been taken out of Bailey’s purview and is now under the supervision of Alex Wisniewski, also newly hired as parks director.
Bailey’s starting salary is $91,000 per year.
About 30 people applied for the Port Townsend position.
Six finalists were selected. They were interviewed by three panels Jan. 15 with representatives from city staff, elected and appointed officials and community stakeholders.
The committees made recommendations to City Manager David Timmons, who offered the job to Bailey the following day.
Bailey, who is single, is renting in the Uptown neighborhood until he decides whether to buy a house.
Bailey, who grew up in North Carolina, visited Port Townsend 22 years ago and was immediately taken by the environment.
He decided then that he wanted to live in Port Townsend some day, he said.
In addition to Ellensburg, Bailey also has worked in Oregon, where he was planning director for Wallowa County and associate planner for the city of Lake Oswego.
He has worked in the private sector as a zoning supervisor for T-Mobile Wireless.
He holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of North Carolina and studied urban and regional planning as a post-graduate at the University of Oregon.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
