PORT TOWNSEND – Ken Kelly objects to a city proposal to block off the eastern entrance to his Vintage Hardware parking lot on Upper Sims Way at Thomas Street.
That plan comes as a result of the City Council-approved roundabout planned there, a double-whammy for Kelly who also fought the traffic-circle option fronting the entrance to his business.
Kelly said the traffic barrier means one thing to his business.
“It’s death,” he said Monday night.
Commercial property owner Shirley Rudolph made a similar complaint, saying Sims Way parking lost in front of her three-business building just west of Kelly’s seriously threatens their commercial success.
The state Department of Transportation, planning interim striping on Upper Sims Way to allow left turns north and south at McPherson Street, south at Alder Street and north on Thomas, wants the city to eliminate diagonal parking and change it to parallel in front to Rudolph’s building, which includes the Children’s Hospital Thrift Store.
“You will essentially be killing Children’s,” she told the City Council on Monday night.
The council heard – and business owners saw – the latest city design plans for Upper Sims Way during an open house and work session in the USO Building at Fort Worden State Park.
The meeting drew about 100, many who voiced outright opposition to the latest plans on the main highway in and out Port Townsend.
