DUNGENESS — Shucking will give way to wrecking at the old Oyster House, just as soon as time and tides cooperate.
The former seafood processing facility at 292 Oyster House Road, estimated to be half a century old, will be torn down within the next few weeks, said Joel Winborn, the Clallam County parks, fair and facilities manager coordinating the project.
The county, which owns the land around the Oyster House and its pier, issued a permit for the building’s demolition Dec. 2.
Winborn said the county Building Department had red-tagged the structure after an engineer’s report found it in desperate need of repairs.
The wood-and-concrete structure has deteriorated over the years, and “is beyond repairs at this point,” Winborn said.
But “we don’t have a date,” for the wrecking crew, Winborn said.
“We’re trying to work with the tides, and that’s difficult this time of year, since the low tides are during the dark hours.”
A seafood company used the Oyster House until early 2008, but when it moved out, the county started down the path toward demolition, condemning the building and obtaining the required environmental impact reports.
But while the Oyster House is going away, the pier will stay.
It will be barricaded, Winborn said, to deter people from walking on it, but then the county will take a look at the pilings and consider repairs or replacements in order to reopen the pier to the public.
Water access
“The hope is that we can one day provide an access point over the water,” accessible to everyone including wheelchair users, Winborn said.
Surrounding the pier is Dungeness Landing County Park, a 19-acre swath along outer Dungeness Bay, accessible from Marine Drive six miles north of Sequim.
The park offers visitors abundant bird life and views across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Dungeness Lighthouse.
Once the Oyster House is gone, the view will be even better — and a rehabilitated pier, Winborn said, would provide an uncommon, up-front spot to enjoy the windswept waterfront.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
