PORT ANGELES — The City Council has declared as surplus a downtown parking lot for the development of a combination parking garage, commercial center and condominiums near the site of the future Port Angeles Waterfront Center.
Council members voted 6-0 Tuesday — with Mike French excused — to declare the lot at 222 W. Front St. as surplus to the operation of the city, provided it is sold to a company operated by Eric Dupar and developed as proposed at the Feb. 5 council meeting.
Dupar has said he plans to build a five-story, multi-purpose building on the lot south of Front Street and West of Oak Street that will include 62 to 72 housing units, up to 5,600 square feet of retail space and a parking garage with 326 parking stalls.
The existing parking lot, which Dupar has leased since 1998, has space for 126 vehicles.
“Our downtown needs a new look, and this is going to add a massive amount of extra parking,” City Council member Michael Merideth said before the unanimous vote.
Dupar’s proposed development is directly across Front Street from the site of the $45 million Port Angeles Waterfront Center, which will host concerts, conferences and events.
City Manager Nathan West said a key element of Dupar’s proposal is no net loss of downtown parking.
“I’m very proud of this council,” third-term council member Cherie Kidd said after the vote.
“We are really moving forward to enhance our downtown. I congratulate all of you for being part of history.”
The action to declare the parking lot as surplus was delayed by two weeks at the request of the Port Angeles Downtown Association.
PADA members had raised a series of concerns about the project at the council’s Feb. 19 meeting, saying snowstorms prevented the full membership from weighing in. Most of the concerns were related to parking.
“The Downtown Association really deserved to be consulted on this new project, and I feel that that was the right thing to do,” Kidd said at the continued public hearing Tuesday.
The PADA board discussed the 222 W. Front St. project in a Feb. 25 meeting.
“For the record, PADA is still concerned about public free parking areas being sold to private entities but are excited by the possibilities,” PADA Vice President Beth Witters told the council Tuesday.
“Another concern is that any revenue from the sale of the city-owned downtown property looks like it would go into the general fund instead of being reinvested downtown.”
Witters suggested that the funds be set aside for crosswalk safety improvements, speed limit enforcement, maintenance of current parking lots or be held for the development of other parking facilities.
After Dupar outlined his plans Feb. 5, the City Council directed staff to obtain an appraisal of the Front Street property and to negotiate with Dupar a term sheet providing a framework for its sale.
Proceeds from the sale to Anian Shores LLC, which Dupar controls, will go to the city’s general fund, West said in a memo to the council.
The next steps for the city are the appraisal and term sheet.
Dupar, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, has said he hopes to break ground this year and complete the project in 18 months.
Before constructing the proposed 67-foot-tall structure, Dupar must obtain a conditional-use permit from a hearings examiner to exceed the 45-foot height restriction for new buildings in the downtown area, West has said.
Land-use hearings include written and verbal testimony from the public.
Kidd said downtown revitalization began 12 years ago with a vision of the Port Angeles Forward Committee.
“So much has happened,” Kidd said.
“We have a lovely waterfront. We have English and S’Klallam names on our streets and our waterfront downtown. We have beautiful beaches and parkways. We’re going to have a $45 million state-of-the-art performing arts center/conference center on the waterfront.”
“I’m looking forward to all of us being at the groundbreaking, and then, most importantly, at the ribbon-cutting of not only the conference center, but Mr. Dupar’s project.”
Council member Jim Moran described Dupar’s project as a “wonderful thing” for downtown Port Angeles.
“I firmly believe that to revitalize the downtown area, having people live in the downtown area is critical,” Moran said.
“So that’s one step in the right direction.”
Moran said the additional parking spaces provided by the development will be critical for the waterfront center and the rest of downtown.
“The city doesn’t have the staff or the finances to do this, so to turn this over to the private sector to do it is to me absolutely the right thing to do,” Moran said.
“I congratulate Mr. Dupar on the design and his courage to move forward with this.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
