PORT TOWNSEND — A new plan for the reconfiguration of the Mountain View Commons will rearrange the space in a way the city hopes will benefit all of the tenants.
“We’ve seen the plan and are pretty excited about this,” said Chief Mike Evans of the Port Townsend Police Department.
“We’ll have a little less space but will be able to use what we have more efficiently.”
The Port Townsend City Council will consider approval of the plan at 6:30 p.m. Monday at historic City Hall, 540 Water St.
If the plan is given the OK, then the city will recruit contractors, City Manager David Timmons said.
He said $1.2 million remains of a $3.6 million construction bond that voters approved in February 2015.
Adding a $415,150 community block grant brings the budget for plan implementation to $1.6 million.
Timmons said this amount will cover the renovation project.
The plan was completed by Rolluda Architects of Seattle for about $8,000, according to Alex Wisniewski, parks and recreation director.
Wisniewski hopes construction will begin this summer and that it would be completed at the end of 2017.
The Mountain View at 1919 Blaine St. was leased by the Port Townsend School District to the city in 2009 to house nonprofits and the police station.
Aside from the police, the former classroom building hosts the Food Bank, Working Image, the Red Cross and KPTZ-FM.
Since the block grant — which benefits the Port Townsend Food Bank and Working Image — expires at the end of 2017, those projects are expected to be completed first, Wisniewski said.
The plan, according to a city document, would make the former campus compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act by adding ramps, cut curbs and automatic doors.
It would increase square footage for the food bank by 33 percent.
The space for Working Image would be cut by 17 percent, but double-tiered clothing racks would be added.
The Port Townsend Police Department would vacate the current public access area that once served as a school office and relocate into the building’s east wing, where police operations are now located, reducing square footage by 17 percent.
A new public interface would be constructed. It would lead directly into the east wing.
The Jefferson County office of the American Red Cross Olympic Peninsula Chapter would move across the hall into a room once used as a children’s library.
Its current location would become a shared meeting room.
It would lose 40 percent of its area, but the new space would still accommodate its needs, according to the document.
Wisniewski’s office would move down the hall into a room of the same size he has now.
KPTZ-FM would occupy the space vacated by the police station, vacating the portable classroom building it has occupied since beginning broadcasting in 2011 and doubling its current square footage.
That would relieve a cramped situation, according to station manager Nora Petrich, and also provide a safer space.
“Being in a more secure space better prepares us for emergency broadcasting,” she said.
While the city will fund the expansion, the station will pay for additional equipment and the wiring for it, among other improvements, which Petrich said would cost more than $20,000.
A funding source has not been determined, she said. The station intends to apply for a grant to help support the new facility.
Timmons said the project does not include the adjacent building, which includes the pool, the gym and the former cafeteria that is now used for child care.
Its future will be determined by the YMCA and depend on the construction of its new facility, currently scheduled for a 2020 opening.
These buildings are in need of repair and could eventually be demolished, Timmons said.
To see the plan, go to http://tinyurl.com/PDN-mountainview.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
