PORT ANGELES — More than a decade after it first was proposed, the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center could have final drawings next month, the project’s design review committee was told Wednesday afternoon.
“We have a project, so that’s good news,” said committee chairwoman Karen Rogers, a Port Angeles city councilwoman.
The committee also learned of other new developments in the project:
* Clallam Transit is continuing condemnation proceedings to obtain property for the project, which is west of Lincoln Street and between Front Street and Railroad Avenue.
A hearing on the transit agency’s efforts to condemn the Budget Rent-a-Car parking lot is set for Feb. 22 before visiting Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser in the Clallam County Courthouse.
* The city of Port Angeles, Clallam Transit System and Port Angeles Downtown Association will negotiate contracts for managing the project and its underground parking.
* The city of Port Angeles could cover an estimated $2.6 million “funding gap,” with City Manager Michael Quinn telling the committee he was “not worried about it.”
The Gateway Center is intended to be an attractive eastern entrance to downtown Port Angeles.
The project has four components: a two-level parking garage to the west, a bus transit lane, a visitor center and a town plaza.
The plans show a parking garage under the visitor center with another parking level at ground level and a plaza at the corner of Front and Lincoln streets.
Clallam Transit attorney Craig Miller said the property condemnation process has two steps: proving the project has a public necessity, and then defending the property owner’s challenge.
“The judge must say it is a public necessity before we have a project,” Miller said.
“After the hearing, then we can ask for immediate possession and use,” he said.
