PORT ANGELES — A new stormwater pipe will be installed under First Street downtown during the day rather than the twilight hours to allow the project to be completed a month sooner.
Glenn Cutler, Port Angeles city public works and utilities director told 10 members of the Port Angeles Downtown Association about the plan Wednesday.
Barb Frederick, association executive director, said she thinks the schedule change is a good trade-off for downtown since it will keep work from occurring after Memorial Day.
Many businesses, she said, depend on the tourists who start coming to Port Angeles in greater numbers after the holiday.
“It can make a huge difference,” Frederick said, to get the work done sooner.
Nine of the members at the meeting indicated they support the plan, Frederick said, adding that the meeting with the association, which has 175 members, was called on short notice.
But one of the 10 at the morning meeting — Lindi Lumens, who owns Northwest Fudge and Confections with her husband, Bob — was not pleased by the change.
“Now, it’s probably going to kill us during that time, and if we can survive until the summer, it’s going to be surprising,” she said, after noting construction will occur during Easter.
The store is located on the south side of First Street, where construction will be concentrated.
The new schedule calls for work to occur seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. beginning about March 1 and lasting to about Memorial Day (May 30).
Previously, the work was going to happen from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The pipe will be placed under the south side lane of First Street from Valley to Laurel streets. Traffic will be reduced to one lane where crews are working.
While construction will end sooner than previously anticipated, the new schedule will have a greater impact on traffic and stores while the project is under way, city staff acknowledged at the downtown association meeting.
Cutler assured business owners that the city will do what it can to limit the impact and let the public know that businesses and sidewalks will remain open.
“We can’t do anything downtown without some pain,” he said. “What we’re doing is trying to minimize how big the wound is.”
Frederick said it is a concern that the new schedule may be too much for some businesses already struggling.
“It’s kind of the area where we know the work needs to be done,” she said, “and we know the street needs to be paved.”
Frederick added: “But that means we also have to figure out ways to help those businesses and make sure people know downtown is still open and accessible.”
The city awarded a nearly $1.2 million construction contract to Road Construction Northwest of Renton last week.
The contract will be funded by the National Park Service because the project is related to the Elwha River restoration effort.
When the river’s two dams come down, the groundwater level will rise on the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation, leaving the tribe’s septic tanks unusable.
The tribe will get a sewer line that will connect with the city’s sewer system to replace the septic tanks.
Since the additional sewage will contribute to the city’s sewage overflow problem, the park service has agreed to disconnect storm water from the sewer system on First Street to offset that impact.
As part of the project, the city will pay about $225,000 to repave both lanes toward the end of the project. Bike lanes also will be added.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
