PORT TOWNSEND — Now that all the annual festivals are over, the city of Port Townsend will turn its attention toward the downtown development projects that were put on hold to accommodate the seasonal tourist influx.
This week, city officials will begin mapping out a schedule for the completion of a variety of continuing projects that will change the complexion of the north end of town, Development Director Rick Sepler said.
City officials had hoped in mid-summer to have projects ready in time for the Wooden Boat Festival Sept. 9-11.
They had hoped to have the more than $1.2 million Pope Marine Park finished, the restored Wave Gallery open to the public, the downtown visitor center complete and the Tidal Clock turned into a small amphitheater.
It was clear by mid-August these projects would not be completed before the boat festival, or even the Port Townsend Film Festival on Sept. 24-26 or this weekend’s Kinetic Sculpture Race.
So officials had to be satisfied with opening up the sidewalk along Water Street in front of Pope Marine Park.
That sidewalk, now concrete, will be resurfaced with asphalt.
One project that was finished was shoring up the Wave Gallery’s foundation, through replacing rotting wood supports with steel pilings.
The total project cost for the Wave Gallery was estimated to be $530,412.
The project is partially funded by a $265,206 Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation grant from state Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account.
The Wave Gallery can now support people, although the stairs and ramps that will provide access have not been constructed.
This access won’t be built until a permit to the remove the Tidal Clock has been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The city has not received word as to when that might occur, Sepler said.
The plan is to fill in the Tidal Clock’s bowl with concrete and create a stage around it.
The Tidal Clock was supposed to be a community gathering place created in 1987 with a gift of $200,000 from Ruth Seavey Jackson of Port Townsend, who wanted a piece of community art created to celebrate the waterfront.
The artists, Chuck Fahlen and Doug Hollis of the San Francisco Bay area, intended it to act as a tidal clock with graduated layers around the bowl filling with water and marine life as the tide changed.
It never worked as envisioned. Instead, it collected debris and wood.
Sepler plans to meet with project manager Tom Miller this week.
Miller, in anticipation of the festival season, took all of his remaining vacation for the rest of the year in September and will return Monday.
In addition to the new visitors center, the city will install a “big toy” as an activity for kids.
It will also contain “Salish Sea Circle” a bronze sculpture commissioned from Gerard Tsutakawa.
Sepler said the sculpture will be ready by the end of the year but will probably not be installed until spring.
The installation is intended to coincide with the arrival of the second new Port Townsend ferry, coincidentally named the Salish.
In the intervening months, the sculpture probably will be stored in a city facility, he said.
Also to be scheduled is the repaving of Madison Street in front of City Hall, which will result in the renovated intersection of Madison Street and Water Street.
Although not on the same block, several downtown sidewalks will need to be replaced, shoring up the “void” areas underneath.
These hollow spaces do not represent an immediate danger, Sepler said, but would not withstand a major disaster such as an earthquake or a flood.
The city will soon begin the process of interviewing consultants to supervise the project which will probably begin no sooner than January 2012, Sepler said.
The city has secured Federal Emergency Management grants for $2,245,640 for the sidewalk repair, leaving the city seeking an additional $334,520.
“This is a long process and the federal government has very specific guidelines about how it must be done,” Sepler said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
