PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County leaders want to cut some trees down to help keep the county courthouse’s clock tower up.
That’s why county commissioners this week approved sale to the highest bidder of 56 acres of county-owned timber on land adjacent to county-owned capped landfill areas off County Landfill Road. The site is about 1.5 miles west of Port Townsend, off Jacob Miller Road.
“We expect to net about $300,000 for the clock tower project,” County Engineer Monte Reinders reported to the county commissioners on Monday.
Up to 50 percent in matching grant funds could come as a result of the timber sale, said Reinders.
Proposed is a $2.4 million project to restore and retrofit the historic clock tower, atop the 113-year-old courthouse at 1820 Jefferson St.
The clock tower houses a 3,500-pound bell that rings hourly and four 9-foot-diameter clock faces.
The commissioners recently informed state lawmakers that the courthouse, listed on the state and national Registers of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark, needs restoration work.
The courthouse has been listed on the Washington State Trust for Historic Preservation’s 10 Most Endangered List for two consecutive years.
