PORT ANGELES — When the state Department of Transportation first proposed building its graving yard here, the concern was whether the 22.4-acre waterfront site would sit idle between floating bridge projects.
Now more than a year after construction began — and quickly halted — at the site, the discussion has come full circle, back to future uses of the property.
The City Council will hold a special meeting today at 3 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St., to discuss the status of the graving yard and Hood Canal Bridge replacement project.
“What happens at Wednesday’s transportation commission meeting in Olympia will play a big part in what happens Thursday,” said Acting City Manager Bill Bloor before the conclusion of the commission meeting.
Although no formal decision was reached, at least four of the seven commissioners said afterward that the Transportation Department would probably heed the tribe’s wishes to drop the graving yard project on the waterfront site of the former Klallam village of Tse-whit-zen.
The general tenor of today’s discussion at City Hall will be finding a solution for everyone that respects the tribe’s interest and the public’s interest, Bloor said.
‘Open discussion’
City Councilwoman Karen Rogers said the meeting would be “an open discussion of where we stand” regarding the project that was to provide up to 120 family-wage jobs to the region when first proposed.
“It’s been a fast-paced discussion. We will consider all the input we’ve been getting,” said City Councilman Larry Williams, who originally proposed a scaled-down graving yard project to the Transportation Department.
