PORT ANGELES — Community leaders should encourage the Harbor-Works Public Development Authority and Rayonier to work together — along with public, private and tribal interests — to redevelop the 75-acre former mill site on the Port Angeles waterfront.
This was one of more than a dozen recommendations Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce President Jim Hallett and the chamber’s executive director, Russ Veenema, presented at this week’s chamber luncheon meeting on Monday.
The luncheon at the CrabHouse Restaurant was dedicated to summarizing the results of a three-part July series of speakers on growth and business development in Port Angeles — and reflected lengthy discussions by the chamber’s board of directors.
It also included a laundry list of positive changes that have already been made in the city.
“There was pretty much unanimous consensus that the [Rayonier] property has potential,” Hallett said. “Let’s get something done with it.”
“There seems to be a little too much finger-pointing on that area,” Veenema said of the cleanup of the mill site at the foot of Ennis Street.
“Working together can make that (development) happen.”
Other suggestions included a marketing campaign to turn Port Angeles into a retirement destination; developing a real estate investment group to buy downtown buildings for redevelopment or investment; helping sprint-boat developers finish their proposed track; and turning Laurel Street into a pedestrian-only promenade.
Other “what more can be done” suggestions:
Reduce downtown truck traffic; encourage hotel development through tax incentives; help the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe develop a new casino west of town; focus on the composite industry, tourism, natural resource development and the maritime and alternative energy industries.
The chamber board of directors will present a more developed action plan to chamber members in the fall, Hallett said.
Hallet and Veenema outlined hurdles to growth and the major accomplishments of recent years.
They pointed the freshly painted downtown core from last year’s “Paint the Town” campaign; the newly paved Front Street; sewer improvements to the eastern urban growth area; the new Lower Elwha Tribal Heritage Center; Gateway Transit Center; Nippon’s announcement of a biomass energy project; the success of the PenPly mill and improvements to the Port Angeles Boat Haven.
The cities’s tourism product has improved with growth in community events.
With weekday winter access coming to Hurricane Ridge, downtown art displays, downtown underground historical tours and the expanding Olympic Discovery Trail, Veenema said the city is in good shape.
“We seen significant event growth over the last decade,” he said.
Plans for a waterfront promenade, new rules for signs in the city and the upcoming removal of the Elwha dams should bolster the city’s economy in the next few years, Veenema said.
Peninsula College and Olympic Medical Center have continued to grow and infuse the community with money and reasons to retire here, he added.
According to perceptions, Hallett and Veenema said some of the issues facing Port Angeles include:
• An unfavorable image to outsiders.
• Marginal housing options and a poor job market.
• The city is no longer the region’s dominant retail center.
• Physical land constraints that create barriers to real estate growth.
• Permits, codes and zoning rules that are too restrictive.
• Absentee building owners are not interested in changing their buildings.
• Port Angeles is not taking advantage of its waterfront.
• State restrictions have hurt the sport fishing industry.
Chamber officials will consider more feedback from the growth series before drafting a formal action plan.
Edna Petersen, owner of the downtown Necessities and Temptations gift store, said Port Angeles should strive to become a “traveler’s destination” rather than a “tourist destination.”
“People travel here to visit our natural beauty,” Petersen said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
