PORT ANGELES — A city maintenance shop that was destroyed in a December windstorm will be replaced with a prefabricated metal building pending City Council action today.
The council will consider today a $160,436 purchase agreement with Platypus Marine Inc. for an unassembled General Steel structure that was originally intended for the Platypus property at 102 N. Cedar St.
After securing another location for its expanded operations, Platypus agreed to sell the prefabricated building to the city for 50 cents on the dollar, city officials said.
The city Parks and Recreation Department maintenance shop at the northeast corner of Lincoln Park was destroyed by a fallen tree in a historic windstorm last Dec. 14.
If the council agrees to purchase the General Steel building, it will eventually be assembled at 1310 W. 16th St. where the badly damaged shop sits today.
“The city has the opportunity to purchase an unassembled new metal building from Platypus Marine, Inc., only made possible by their generous donation and offer to let the city buy the building for half of the purchase price,” Aubry Bright of the Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Department said in a memo to the council.
Platypus no longer needs the prefabricated structure because it is expanding into the former Sunset Do It Best Hardware building at 518 Marine Drive, city officials said.
The hardware store space was transferred to Platypus as part of a three-business transaction involving Lumber Traders Inc., Platypus Marine and Sunset Wire Rope Co. Inc., that was announced in February.
Platypus agreed to cut $148,097 from the building cost as a donation to the city, Bright said.
The city would be responsible for the remaining cost plus moving expenses for a total of $160,436.
“Of that amount, $123,097 are the proceeds from an insurance claim,” Bright said in her June 18 memo.
“The additional $37,339 will be taken out of the General Fund reserves.”
The Dec. 14 storm knocked down at least eight trees in Lincoln Park and resulted in a power outage that affected all of Clallam County.
No one was inside the 2,000-square-foot park maintenance building when a giant fir crashed through the roof and destroyed the framework, Parks Director Corey Delikat said after the storm.
The fallen tree narrowly missed an adjacent substation, sparing the city from a more costly repair.
“The F Street substation was near the tree when it fell and would have been a multi-million dollar project to replace if the tree had fallen another 20 feet to the east,” Bright said in her memo.
The existing maintenance shop will be demolished later this year, Bright said.
The General Steel building will be stored on a Port of Port Angeles-owned property near William R. Fairchild Memorial Airport until the city is able to assemble the new structure at 1310 W. 16th St.
“Parks and Recreation will be working with Public Works on the surrounding area to ensure additional trees do not fall in another event,” Bright said.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
