PORT ANGELES — The City Council approved Tuesday the removal of between 39 and 45 trees from Lincoln Park — and also the writing of a master plan that could result in nearly all of the evergreens being removed from the park.
The trees will be removed from the park, which is owned by the city of Port Angeles, to preserve the current landing approach to William R. Fairchild International Airport from the east.
The Port of Port Angeles, which owns and operates the airport, will use a $37,500 grant from the state Department of Transportation grant to remove the trees.
Doug Sandau, airport manager, said the trees could be removed within the next month.
That depends on how quickly a contractor is selected. Tree cutting will take about three days, he said.
The port removed about 300 trees from the park in 2008.
The city of Port Angeles will receive all of the revenue from selling the trees, as it did in 2008.
That revenue is estimated at between $8,000 and $12,000, Sandau said.
The City Council, with Mayor Dan Di Guilio and Council member Max Mania absent, unanimously approved the removal of the trees and start of the master plan process.
The plan, funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, would determine all of the trees that could grow into the landing zone and pose a risk in the future.
Those trees would be removed.
The landing zone includes almost the entire park.
Sandau said after the presentation that all of the trees within that zone could grow into the flight path, and therefore, could be designated for removal as part of the master plan.
The purpose of the plan, he told the council, is to solve the problem once and for all.
“What we want to avoid is coming back every five or six years and request that we cut a few more trees,” Sandau said.
The city will use a consultant to help create the plan. That process could take two to three years.
The master plan also will outline how the park will be developed in the next few decades, particularly where trees have been removed.
Any of the large evergreens that are removed could be replaced with low canopy trees.
The trees are not only an issue for aircraft safety, Sandau said. They also make it more costly for commercial aircraft to land on the North Olympic Peninsula.
If no trees are removed, aircraft will have to use the western approach more often, he said.
That requires them to fly 20 miles farther, adding to the fuel costs of companies like Kenmore Air, which provides the only regularly-scheduled flights on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Currently, 30 percent of flights have to land from the west. The port would like to reduce that to 10 percent.
Regional air carriers, which operate with tiny profits, are dwindling around the nation, Sandau said.
Higher fuel costs from having to use the western approach puts the Peninsula more at risk of losing scheduled air service, he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
