PORT ANGELES — A six-month ultimatum that the Port of Port Angeles was given to address lease concerns with Platypus Marine has been shortened, with the new deadline tied to ongoing rate studies on the company’s leased property.
Judson Linnabary, president and owner of Platypus Marine, told port commissioners Colleen McAleer, Connie Beauvais and Steve Burke that he needs to speed up the process at a commission workshop and meeting Monday.
On March 14, Linnabary gave the port a six-month notice that Platypus would take its business elsewhere unless the port fixed problems he had with the lease or sold him the leased property quickly.
Linnabary has said he wants either a sale of the current property at 102 N. Cedar St., with a contract similar to what neighboring marine business Westport LLC received in 2003, or a lease with similar provisions.
He said he wants to make $5 million in improvements on the four-acre property Platypus has leased at Marine Drive and Cedar Street since 1998, but wants assurances that his investment is protected.
The new deadline is 10 days after two companies, one hired by the port and the other by Linnabary, complete rate studies to determine a fair market rate for the company’s leased property. It was not known Monday when the studies will be finished.
Linnabary and the port will work out the other elements of the lease and have it complete, except for the final lease rate, by that time, he and the port commissioners agreed.
“I’m somewhat comfortable about everything,” said Linnabary.
Karen Goschen, interim executive director, is the primary negotiator for the port in the extensive lease negotiation.
“She has our proxy and is representing us in these negotiations. It is our policy that we have delegated this to [our executive director],” McAleer said.
Linnabary and the commissioners agreed that a surveyor will map out the property for a preliminary agreement on what terms will be included in the lease. The agreement is expected to be ready for approval Friday.
“The map is approximate. We will follow up with a detailed survey,” Goschen said.
They determined that once the terms are agreed on and a more detailed map of the leased property is complete, the lease will be drafted with a blank lease cost, to be filled in after the fair market value reports are received.
The six-month deadline was unfair to his employees, who were being stressed by the uncertainty, Linnabary said.
“The effects of what I was doing to my employees and me were really negative,” he said.
Instead, Linnabary said he wants to be able to tell his employees as soon as possible whether they are either staying or moving.
Linnabary said the six-month deadline was a spur-of-the moment idea. “I apologize,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
