PORT TOWNSEND — A year after the city of Port Townsend broke ground on the Howard Street expansion, officials look forward to considering the plan for the Howard Street and Upper Sims Way subarea by the end of the year.
City officials and contractors on the project hosted the second of two community open houses to collect public input on the project on Wednesday night. The city also has a survey on its website, www.cityofpt.us, where public comment will be accepted for the next two weeks.
“We’re nearing the end of kind of the concept phase of the project,” said Lance Bailey, city planning director.
Like the meeting in July, community members were asked to vote on the kinds of housing, businesses and architecture they’d like to see in this subarea.
Results mirrored those of the first meeting with apartments and small town homes topping the list for housing, mixed architectural styles were favored and light manufacturing or artisan businesses were the top picks.
The results of the first meeting, held in early July, saw overwhelming support for a mixed-use area in the Howard Street subarea that encompasses the land between the intersection of Discovery Bay Road and Sims Way to roughly McPherson Street.
In July, small town homes and apartments up to three stories were the most popular housing options, according to Ryan Givens, the project manager from ABHL Inc., a Seattle-based engineering consultant hired by the city.
“The number one desire has always been housing,” said Suzanne Tyler, a property owner within the Howard Street subarea and a member of the subarea task force.
“Affordable housing and work force housing and then finding a way to synergize job creation with that.”
The idea of “live/work” areas, with businesses on the street level and apartments above was an option favored by the community, Givens said.
The community also was in favor of attracting small, artisan businesses to the Howard Street subarea along with light industrial businesses such as the Mt. Townsend Creamery and the Port Townsend Vineyards, both of which already own land within the subarea.
“The artisan businesses like the creamery are a great idea,” said Dwayne Russell, a Port Townsend resident who attended Wednesday’s open house.
“The light industrial is also something we like since it brings jobs and that’s what the young people here need.”
Other favored businesses were food and beverage, groceries and arts.
The community also was supportive of incorporating the local trail system into the subarea.
The general idea was that the community wanted a walkable neighborhood with affordable housing and a small-town feel with businesses geared more toward residents rather than just tourists, according to Givens.
“We’re not trying to compete with Downtown or Uptown,” Givens said.
However, there was a lot of community support for still making the subarea feel like a part of Port Townsend.
“What feels most important to me is that the development we do is organic to Port Townsend,” said Teya Walker of Port Townsend.
“We need to support and encourage our identity, our Victorian seaport, and plan with that history in mind.”
Walker also expressed that she would like to see affordable housing added to the subarea plan. Integrating affordable housing was one topic that has come up repeatedly in both open houses.
“From a housing perspective we see both a need for development on Howard Street and a need for housing but there’s no guarantee that affordable housing would be built there,” said Jesse Thomas, a member of Jefferson County Housing Solutions.
“Other than that it looks like a great project but a lot of this could take many years, generations even, to fulfill.”
Community members are encouraged to fill out the survey on the Howard Street and Upper Sims Way subarea project online and leave comments as to what they want to see in that development.
Suggested development plans are also located on the city’s website, www.cityofpt.us.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
