By Rob Ollikainen
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners said Monday they will consider a three-year closure of Lower Dam Road to provide a staging area for the removal of the two Elwha River dams.
Barnard Construction Co. of Bozeman, Mont., on April 20 requested the closure for the “deconstruction” of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams. The project is on schedule to begin in September and end 36 months later.
The firm has eyed Clallam County and Bureau of Reclamation properties off Lower Dam Road near state Highway 112 west of Port Angeles as its headquarters for equipment maintenance and fuel storage for the project.
The road closure between mileposts 0.9 and 1.4 would start just beyond the Elwha Dam RV Park. It would take effect July 1 and last until the project is finished.
County Engineer Ross Tyler said he expects that the county commissioners will approve the closure when they vote May 10.
Large project
The 108-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam will be torn down to restore Elwha River salmon habitat in the largest project of its kind in the nation’s history.
The approximately four-acre Lower Dam Road site — about 100 yards from where the 11-story Elwha Dam is visible — is at a former Elwha River overlook off state Highway 112 situated across Lower Dam Road from Elwha Dam RV Park.
“Barnard Construction will supply their own security fencing for everything they need for that site,” Tyler said.
The terms of the lease have not been finalized. Tyler sent copies of a draft lease agreement to the County Administrator Jim Jones and the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on Monday.
“It’s a safety measure, obviously,” Tyler told commissioners in their work session on Monday.
“If any of you have driven that road, there’s not enough room for bystanders and looky-looers and that kind of stuff while the contract is going on, hence the move that Commissioner [Mike] Doherty has made to provide the public with a separate overlook spot.”
Doherty envisions a public overlook above Lower Dam Road to allow people to watch the 108-foot edifice being torn down.
The public overlook would be on the RV park side of the road on a Bureau of Reclamation parcel.
“Who pays for that remains to be seen because it’s not a county-owned piece of property,” Tyler said.
Vault toilet
The suggested arrangement for the lease is for the contractor to install a vault toilet at the staging area before the project is completed.
“The arrangement we had agreed upon was suggested by Commissioner Doherty a year ago, before the contract had even been awarded,” Tyler said.
Although a cost estimate for the vault toilet is pending, Tyler said his best guess for a precast, concrete, one-toilet structure would be roughly $15,000 to $20,000.
“Personally, I think that’s fair,” Tyler said.
The vault toilet would become a county facility on the east side of Lower Dam Road.
“We have to make sure that we are getting adequate remuneration here and justify why we’re getting it because we have a principle of fairness that we have to do with everybody,” Jones said during the work session.
“If we charge people for using rights of way and getting franchises and other county property, we have to make sure that we have a logical and very rational reason for every amount that we collect and or give up because this is taxpayer money.
“I fully expect that there will be something in [the lease] representing that, and I can’t wait to see it myself.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
