PORT ANGELES — A $23 million sawmill employing 95 people with a $5 million annual payroll is slated for 113 acres of Port of Port Angeles-owned property, economic development officials said Thursday.
“This is a big project. This doesn’t fall into your lap every day,” said city Economic Development Director Tim Smith.
Port of Port Angeles commissioners will hold a public hearing at their Aug. 23 meeting to declare the 113-acre site between William R. Fairchild International Airport and Edgewood Drive as surplus to the Port’s needs.
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. that day in the Downriggers meeting room at The Landing Mall, 115 E. Railroad Ave., Port Angeles.
If declared surplus, the Port can sell the property to Port Angeles Hardwood LLC, a division of Mount Vernon-based Washington Alder, for an alder processing plant identical to one operating in Mount Vernon since 1998.
The company wants to break ground early next year and start production by early 2006, according to a statement from the Clallam County Economic Development Council.
Dry Creek on property
EDC Executive Director Jim Haguewood said since Dry Creek runs through the middle of the 113-acre site, only 60-70 acres of it can be developed.
The sawmill would be located on the west side of Dry Creek, Haguewood said.
The mill would cover 22 acres, but the project site would be 40 acres, he said.
