PORT ANGELES — It took two rounds of voting, but downtown merchants gave their support Wednesday to a compromise work schedule for a stormwater project that will dig up half of First Street.
The city’s contractor will go ahead with a daytime and evening schedule for the first four to six weeks of the approximately four-month-long project — expected to start next week — and then hold another meeting with the Port Angeles Downtown Association to see if association members want the company to switch to working only at nights — outside of business hours.
That next meeting has not been scheduled.
The project, which mainly involves tearing up the south lane of the two-lane street between Valley and Laurel streets to add a new stormwater pipe, will start in earnest Wednesday as workers begin to prepare to cut into the pavement.
Work will continue until June 30 — with most of the work done by Memorial Day, May 30.
Daytime hours
Some downtown merchants who feared that construction during business hours would push struggling businesses over the edge had objected to daytime work.
But the possibility of moving to a nighttime schedule later and the city’s pledge to promote downtown during construction appeared to be enough to ease some of their concerns.
The option adopted received overwhelming support from the approximately 35 members who voted at a meeting held in council chambers at City Hall.
But it wasn’t their first vote.
After hearing a presentation from city staff and the contractor, Road Construction Northwest Inc., and asking a few questions, the members voted narrowly to have work done only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., which would extend the length of the project by about a month.
Fifteen voted for night-time work, 14 voted for the compromise solution later adopted, and nine voted to make the daytime and evening schedule final. (Three votes were submitted via e-mail before the meeting.)
Another count with just the top-two options was held after it became known that votes were submitted by people who did not attend the meeting.
During that round, 29 voted for the compromise and seven voted for night-time work only. Barb Frederick, downtown association executive director, said the e-mailed votes were counted both times.
Merchant protests
The second vote prompted First Street merchant Don Zeller to stand up and protest.
“We took a vote, and we should stand by it,” he said.
Zeller, who owns Zeller’s Antique Mall, had organized a petition against the day and evening schedule, which received 53 signatures in two days.
He said after the meeting he was still disappointed there was a second vote.
“We got what we got now; we have to weather the storm and see what happens,” Zeller added.
The business owner started the petition out of concern that construction during business hours would be devastating to downtown merchants.
Construction will occur from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays — with no work between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. — and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fridays, said Brian Menard, RCNW superintendent, after the meeting.
In June, crews will pave the north lane between Valley and Laurel streets, apply fog seal to the block between Laurel and Lincoln streets, add bike lanes and replace and add crosswalks.
While work will occur during the day, the heavy “demolition” work will be limited to the evenings, Menard said.
Best option
Menard, who spoke at the meeting, said afterward that he feels the solution adopted by the downtown association was the best option.
He said the selling point is “we can be done sooner.”
Northwest Fudge and Confections owner Lindi Lumens — who spoke against a daytime-evening schedule when the idea was first broached Feb. 9 — said she now feels more comfortable with the project.
“The opportunity to reassess it will make a difference,” she said.
Lumens had said she was concerned that her business won’t be able to survive the project. That hasn’t changed, she said.
The project has a price tag of about $2.25 million, Glenn Cutler, city public works and utilities director, said at the meeting.
About $2.1 million is covered by the National Park Service, he said.
The city is contributing $150,000 for street paving, he said. It has budgeted $225,000 for it.
Restoration effort
The National Park Service is covering that cost because the project is part of its Elwha River restoration effort.
The First Street project is intended to remove enough stormwater from the city’s sewer system to offset the contribution of sewage from the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation.
The tribe will be connected to the city’s sewers because it’s expected that its septic tanks will become unusable as the ground water level rises as a result of the dams’ removal.
In order to not add to the city’s sewage overflow problem, the park service agreed to fund a stormwater disconnect project to offset the impact.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
