PORT TOWNSEND — The goal is to build on present plans for Mountain View Commons. And assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could help make it happen.
In response to a grant written by the North Olympic Peninsula Resource Conservation &Development Council, the EPA has chosen Port Townsend as one of 10 communities across the nation to participate in the Healthy Places for Healthy People planning assistance program.
The EPA will provide technical assistance “to help us design a process to move forward,” to turn Mountain View Commons into “a center of community health and resilience,” said Karen Affeld, regional director for the North Olympic Development Council, using its shorter name.
‘Not going back to the drawing board’
“We’re not going completely back to the drawing board, but we are adding to it,” Affeld said.
“We’re looking at components that we want to have there and seeing how we get there from here.
“We’re trying to maximize that facility into creating a healthier and more resilient community.”
Plans for reconfiguring the present Mountain View Commons at 1919 Blaine St. remain in place. Expanded uses are under consideration for a nearby separate facility planned by the YMCA of Jefferson County, according to City Manager David Timmons.
Elements of the ongoing discussion include setting up the additional building as an emergency center for post-disaster uses, and adding health care and behavioral health services.
In 2014, the YMCA, which now has an office at Mountain View Commons, announced plans to develop a new facility, estimated at $25 million, to be built adjacent to the commons.
“The original project was tested for its financial feasibility and their consultants reported that the project as envisioned was too large a scale for the community base. The recommendation was to rescope the project and revise its scale to be more in line with the support base,” Timmons told the Port Townsend City Council in May.
“So we brought in more partners to support the YMCA and looked at other uses” for the facility.
The council authorized Timmons to execute a partnership agreement with the Port Townsend School District — which owns the commons — Jefferson Healthcare hospital, Jefferson County and the Olympic Peninsula YMCA for a feasibility determination regarding the combined use of the Mountain View campus.
The EPA’s contribution will be to pay for the technical and community outreach experts. No money will be awarded directly to Port Townsend.
“Through Healthy Places for Healthy People, a team of experts will help community members and health care facility partners develop strategies and an action plan to address persistent needs such as better health, improved public safety, basic infrastructure, and jobs,” said Bill Dunbar, the EPA representative, in a press release.
Timmons said a meeting among stakeholders is expected later this summer. Public comment is expected to be gathered at community meetings in August or September.
Mountain View Commons was leased by the Port Townsend School District to the city in 2009 to house nonprofits and the police station. Aside from the police, the former classroom building hosts a municipal pool, the Food Bank, Working Image, the American Red Cross and KPTZ-91.9 FM Radio.
In May 2016, the city accepted a reconfiguration plan of the facility. The budget for the project is $1.6 million. Of that, $1.2 million is from a $3.6 million construction bond voters approved in February 2015. That is still under way, according to Timmons.
But with the recommendation that the planned YMCA project was too big for the community, the city moved to expand the purposes and stakeholders for that building.
“We’re hoping to have a discussion of what’s in and what’s out and what our priorities are,” Timmons said.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
