PORT ANGELES — Two candidates for Port Angeles City Council told of their hopes for Lincoln Park on Tuesday morning.
Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton and challenger Brooke Nelson face off in the Nov. 3 election. Ballots in the all-mail election will be mailed to registered voters today.
At the debate before about 40 people during the Port Angeles Business Association breakfast meeting, Nelson advocated a complete transformation of Lincoln Park, while Wharton said she still sought an optimal solution.
Port of Port Angeles officials have said that they intend to recommend that more trees be cut down in Lincoln Park to clear the flight path to William R. Fairchild International Airport next door.
In October 2007, 350 trees were logged from the 147-acre park, which is owned by the city of Port Angeles.
In April of this year, Jeff Robb — now the Port of Port Angeles executive director, and then the director of aviation and marinas — said that about 1,350 feet of the east end of Runway 26 cannot be used because of “obstructions,” or trees in Lincoln Park, according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
The Lincoln Park trees are too tall for pilots to make the approach.
Additionally, because of the trees, port officials has said that on days when an instrument approach is required — meaning weather conditions do not allow pilots to see the runway, Kenmore Air the only commercial passenger service between Port Angeles and Seattle, must fly about 20 miles west and back around to approach the runway from the west side.
Nelson and park
“I think that the city recognizes and supports the transformation of Lincoln Park,” Nelson said. “I’m excited for a vision to go from high-canopy trees to low-canopy trees.
“I also believe that with all the dirt that will be dug up — because it isn’t just a chain saw issue, but they will have to pull up all of the stumps, too — we could use that and go one step further and develop our stormwater management for the lower fields.
“We might even be able to create some rain gardens or something of the sort as we work with the stormwater management.”
Wharton said she was still in search of a better solution.
‘Trade in the trees’
“Obviously, if I had to choose between passenger air service to Port Angeles or the trees, I would trade in the trees,” she said.
“But I really don’t believe that we are faced with something so black and white.
“Whatever ideas come out for the park, it needs to be something that will not take more maintenance, so we aren’t spending more money there.”
She said she hadn’t yet firmed her opinion, but that she thought it might be possible to use the land as an example of sustainable forestry, by cutting down the too-tall trees and planting new ones as time goes along.
The port has been working on an airport master plan to outline how reclaiming the rest of the runway would impact the surrounding areas, as well as plans for how the airport should be used.
Among suggestions that have been broached is replacing the tall trees with trees that mature at shorter heights.
Robb said in April that he and the FAA are working with the city of Port Angeles to find a solution because many — if not all — of the trees in Lincoln Park could be required to be removed.
The third and final public meeting to discuss the master plan before it is finalized will be held at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Port of Port Angeles administration office, 338 W. First St.
Once the port commissioners approve the plan, it must go to the FAA for its approval.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
