PORT ANGELES — A vision for remaking the waterfront started to come into focus last week and will be presented to the City Council later this month.
The city of Port Angeles’ consultants, after a series of public meetings and several weeks spent mingling with residents and walking the streets and trails, left with a concept that they intend to refine before presenting it to the City Council at 6 p.m. Oct. 21 at City Hall, 308 W. Fourth St.
The main purpose of the Waterfront and Transportation Improvement Plan, as the city calls it, is to develop a waterfront that would bring more residents downtown and give tourists — especially those traveling on the ferries — a reason to stay.
Major points
The concept the consultants left with includes various landscaping, lighting and other aesthetic improvements, but the major proposals include:
• Turning Railroad Avenue east of the ferry docks into a mostly pedestrian thoroughfare.
• Building a waterfront promenade along the other end of the avenue, with improved landscaping, vendor and performance space with access to the water.
• Extending the Olympic Discovery Trail through a new park along Oak Street.
The park would sit on land the city leases from the state Department of Natural Resources.
• Moving the Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center to the park and using its current location on City Pier for more vendor and event space.
• Expanding Hollywood Beach.
The plan also calls for placing kiosks near the ferries that show where attractions, shops and restaurants are and how long it takes to walk or bike to them.
Bill Grimes, principal of Studio Cascade of Spokane, the lead consultant on the project, said the plan has been based heavily on the public input received at meetings held last week.
“I think it’s really what it [the city] needs,” Grimes said.
“It doesn’t have a compelling unified vision.
“And we’re hoping that this process results in something like that.”
For those who may have missed out on the meetings last week, comments also will be received at a town hall meeting in November.
No meeting date has been set.
The two-phased plan, expected to cost about $778,000, is not just about the waterfront, although it is its focus.
The plan also will take a close look at transportation throughout the city and develop new entryway monuments and new way-finding signs.
As part of the contract, the consultants will provide bid-ready documents for construction by summer 2011.
The new signs, intended to resolve confusion among visitors of how to get from point A to point B, will begin to be put in place by the end of the year.
Entryway monuments
The design for the new monuments, which are scheduled to also be done in December, began to take shape last week.
The concept, as shown at a public meeting Thursday, includes a large stone base with several tall wooden polls stretching up about 30 feet.
The poles represent the timber industry, Native American totem poles and masts on the tall ships that used to be a common sight in Port Angeles, said David Hoppes, a designer with AECOM, one of six consultants working on the plan.
Hoppes said the poles could incorporate Native American art and other designs.
The consultants propose placing one along U.S. Highway 101 at the beginning of the S curve near Deer Park Road and another on Lauridsen Boulevard near Lincoln Street.
The city has estimated that the new signs and monuments will cost $200,000.
Nathan West, city economic and community development director, said funds have been set aside for the way-finding signs and entryway monuments.
How to fund it?
But finding the money for the waterfront improvements will be more difficult, he acknowledged.
The city estimated earlier this year that a promenade alone would cost about $4.5 million to design and build.
West said total cost estimates will be known when the design is complete.
He said the city will have to rely heavily on grants to make the waterfront improvements happen.
West said that’s why the city is taking a “menu approach” to the project.
He added that he is confident the city will be competitive in applying for grant funds because the plans involve transportation as well as improvements to park and open space.
He said the improvements will be made as funding is available.
“I will anticipate that you might start seeing some waterfront improvements in late 2011,” West said.
“And I hope we’ll continue with a number of phases of the project and get it completed.”
The consultants said it could take a decade or more for everything to come into place.
“The city may not be able to afford a significant portion of it right away,” Grimes said.
“But this will help the community create an opportunity to work together in a unified way.”
The project’s website is www.pa-waterfront.org.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
