THE PORT ANGELES City Council has delayed a decision on whether to declare a piece of property adjacent to the Gateway project as surplus so that it can be sold.
Before it votes, the council wants to look into possible historical merits of the building.
The structure — which now contains Budget Car and Truck Rental and Cock-A-Doodle Doughnuts — was built in 1927.
The addresses that would be sold are 105, 107 and 111 E. Front St., and 110 E. Railroad Ave.
Council member Don Perry made the motion to delay the decision until the Oct. 7 regular meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
Council member Cherie Kidd seconded the motion.
Council members Dan Di Guilio and Larry Williams opposed it, while Mayor Gary Braun, Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton, and Council members Karen Rogers, Kidd and Perry voted in favor of the delay.
“I’d like to look into a few things before making this decision,” Perry said.
Regardless of whether or not the property is sold, the $1.2 million bond taken out to purchase the property in 2005 will continue through 2020, said Yvonne Ziomkowski, finance department director.
“It is a non-refundable, non-curable bond,” she said.
Joseph Nez, a Port Angeles resident who has researched the property, spoke during a public hearing on Tuesday and urged the council not to sell the property.
Nez said he also supports the idea of a historical mural being painted on the side of the building which faces the Gateway project.
“That building has quite a colorful history when you start studying it,” he said.
