PORT ANGELES — Archaeology will continue to be an issue, but the city’s waterfront is unlikely to remain the same because of other regulatory changes, Associate City Planner Scott Johns told the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday morning.
“Non-water-dependent uses” are unlikely to get permitted on the waterfront in the future, Johns said, noting issues surrounding the proposed Oak Street hotel and conference center.
In response to the city’s request for proposals in 2001, Randal Jay Ehm of San Diego proposed building a hotel with more than 150 rooms and a conference center for more than 700 people on the 3.8-acre property at Front and Oak streets now owned by the Port of Port Angeles.
The project was moved out of the 200-foot shoreline area because of the issue of water-dependent versus water-enjoyment uses, Johns said.
How definitions such as “water-dependent” and “water-related” are being applied to waterfront projects is changing, Johns said.
Shoreline sawmills
Floating logs through the water used to be the most economical way to transport sawlogs, so sawmills were located on the waterfront.
That made the mills a water-dependent use, Johns told the business group gathered at Joshua’s Restaurant for its weekly breakfast meeting.
But building a waterfront sawmill today would be a “real stretch,” he said.
Sawmills also used the water for disposing of wood waste, which wouldn’t be allowed now, either, Johns said.
So Port Angeles is likely to have a different waterfront in the future than it has today, he said.
