PORT ANGELES — The Chinook Motel has been condemned.
The city of Port Angeles ordered its closure Friday after 61 years of business because of 29 building and property maintenance violations noted during a June 17 inspection of the motel conducted with representatives of the state Department of Health.
The motel needs more than just a new coat of paint, a city planner concluded; it’s a safety hazard.
The sign posted by the city on the outside of the motel’s office says it is “unfit for human occupancy.”
Only one guest was registered Friday at the 53-room motel. The guest was told to find alternate accommodations by the day’s end.
The state will pull the license of the motel at 1414 E. First St., which once was part of the Best Western chain and prized a half-century ago for its outdoor swimming pool.
Pulling the license is the strongest action the state can take, said Byron Plan, state health department special facilities unit manager, Friday.
“If the property is condemned and not available for use, we don’t want to have a license that could be argued to say they could open the business again,” Plan said.
Owners said little
The motel’s owners, William and Awatef Younan, were of few words Friday but said that they are not sure what they will do.
“Tell me what our option is,” Awatef Younan said.
The Younans provided little explanation of the city’s findings of lack of maintance.
Awatef Younan referred only to the poor economy.
“Do you have any money?” she asked rhetorically.
The Younans live in the motel and will be allowed to stay.
Their residence includes the office. The condemnation order only applies to the property that is intended for use as a motel.
The owners have 30 days to challenge the condemnation.
City Planning Manager Sue Roberds and City Manager Kent Myers said that the motel could reopen once every violation had been resolved.
Health department
The health department headed the inspection, which was in response to a complaint, Plan said.
The health department has not completed its investigation of the motel, Plan said, so reports cannot be released.
The initial report mentions dirty carpets, linens and other furnishings, and blocked doors, Plan said.
The investigation is expected to be complete early this week, he added.
The city’s report addresses only building code violations, which incorporates some health-related items.
A few examples of the violations are:
• Rodent droppings, dead bed bugs, and signs of live bugs.
• Extensive water damage to a wall, which was covered by carpet that was nailed to it.
• Mold and other water damage.
• Broken exhaust and ventilation fans.
Twenty of the violations were for lack of maintainance of electrical wring, boxes, panels and other equipment.
Prior to June 17, the last time the health department inspected the motel was Oct. 30, 2006. Plan said he didn’t recall the findings of that inspection. The Peninsula Daily News filed a public disclosure request for that information Friday afternoon, but did not receive a response by the end of the day.
Every motel and hotel is inspected every three years, Plan said.
Trying to sell
William Younan, who is in his 60s, said June 17 that he purchased the motel about 12 years ago and has been trying to sell it for the last 11 years because of his medical bills.
The Younans didn’t refer to those medical bills when asked why the motel was not maintained, but nodded their heads in agreement with a reporter when later asked if those costs had made it difficult to ensure that the facility meets the city’s requirements.
In 2007, the motel was listed for sale for $994,000 by Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty in Port Angeles.
Because of the amount of issues found by the city building inspector during June 17 inspection, Roberds said the city had no other choice but to condemn the motel.
“Given the volume of violations, we need to start anew,” she said.
“There are few rooms left that could be found to be marginally acceptable.”
Although complaints about the motel to the city from customers weren’t rare, Roberds said the city didn’t take action because the complaints appeared to be health-related. Such complaints were forwarded to the state health department, she said.
“And when we did the inspection with the health department, it became apparent that there was more than just health department issues there,” Plan said.
“There were also property management issues that we needed to address.”
Plan said he didn’t know how many complaints the health department has received about the motel.
Roberds said the city can prompt its own investigation, but hadn’t, because it had not been notified of the building and property maintenance violations.
“You can’t tell from driving by, other than it’s down on its luck,” she said.
“But when you go inside, it is a different story.”
The Port Angeles Fire Department has done annual inspection of the motel’s fire suppression systems, but Roberds said nothing in those written reports mentioned the state of the motel.
Chamber complaints
Complaints about the motel have been common during festivals and other events, when most lodges are booked, said Russ Veenema, Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director.
“We get both written and verbal comments,” he said. “It’s a little hard to say exactly how many.
“You certainly get more during the summer months or when there’s a big event in town when there’s no other [motel with vacancies] and they show up there at midnight or 1 a.m. and don’t know what they are getting into.”
Veenema said the chamber forwarded all of its written complaints to the city.
One of them, from a Twilight fan visiting the area, was over one page long.
Rachel Kalac, 24, of Tacoma — a fan of the four-novel vampire series set in Forks — wrote that she arrived in town with two friends during the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts this year, and couldn’t find any other accommodations.
“I wish we could have stayed another night at least, but the thought of having to possibly stay at the Chinook another night forced us to go home a bit earlier than expected,” she wrote.
Kalac, reached by telephone Saturday, confirmed that she wrote the letter.
Veenema said the chamber board had discussed the “criteria for asking for the property to be shut down.”
“It was difficult to get folks in there to see the health and safety issues,” he said. “You couldn’t do it from a compliant letter. It had to be a formal inspection . . . As the chamber, we tried to raise awareness level of what we think some of the issues of health and safety were.”
William Younan said he closed the eastern portion of the motel about two or three years ago after its water lines stopped working.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
