PORT TOWNSEND — The City Council has taken another step toward beginning work on a new commercial corridor in Port Townsend by 2012 — a project first approved 14 years ago.
The Port Townsend City Council allocated Monday $675,000 for the design of the Howard Street extension that will connect Sims Way with Discovery Road.
The final project could cost as much as $4 million and take five years to complete, said city development Director Rick Sepler, though it could be less on both counts, he added.
The design will be funded by the 2010 Capital Projects Bond that the city secured for this purpose.
The design phase will continue through the summer, and a construction plan will be developed over the winter, with construction possible in 2012, Sepler said.
When the road opens, it will provide direct access to downtown from several local neighborhoods and also will relieve the traffic burden on Sims Way, Sepler said.
The Howard Street corridor is the last area of commercially zoned property that has yet to be developed and would be a good location for retail and offices, he added.
The project is a long time coming. It first was approved as part of the 1997 comprehensive plan, Sepler said.
After interviewing three design consultants, the council hired BergerABAM of Federal Way, instructing the company to come up with a design that met land-use goals.
The second phase of the agreement requires the handling of environmental permitting and wetland mitigation before presenting a construction-ready design.
Sepler said having a design in place will be necessary to get funding for the completion of the project.
The extension is a little less than a mile and will begin where Howard Street currently dead-ends a few hundred feet from the year-old Sims Way roundabout.
The next phase of the project will be to extend Howard Street another fragment of a mile to 20th Street, which would connect 20th Street (via Howard Street) to Hastings Avenue.
The design will provide a site analysis of this property, he said.
He expects the area to host businesses such as coffee shops, small retail and offices but no “big-box” stories unless zoning regulations are changed.
Having a large store in that location could benefit the town, he said, though “it couldn’t have a box design and would have to fit into the neighborhood.”
He said large-scale retail could provide a benefit, such as generating tax revenue.
“We need to see what the mercantile store will bring in here,” he said.
“Driving to Silverdale or Sequim leaves a pretty big carbon footprint, so it would be good to have some more local shopping options,” Sepler said.
“But anything that’s built needs to fit in with the character of the community.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
