PORT ANGELES — Revitalize Port Angeles has taken on a new project: a mural to cover the plain exterior of the city water tank on East Lauridsen Boulevard.
The large reservoir currently is painted a plain beige. Some on the Revitalize Port Angeles Facebook page called it boring.
“Someone posted a picture of the water tank and said they wanted to see something done,” said Leslie Robertson, founder of Revitalize Port Angeles.
The tank sits adjacent to the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center and the Webster’s Woods outdoor art park at 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
A mural could either help the tank blend into its surroundings or stand out in a positive way to enhance the entrance to the fine arts center, Robertson said.
Members picked up the idea and shared photographs of other water tanks that have been painted with partial or 360-degree murals, and it took off, she said.
Some of the tanks were painted to blend in with their backgrounds, such as a Seattle-area tank painted with a forest of trees and grazing cattle in a field on a tank in Lynden, she said.
Others had historical scenes or were painted to look like giant aquariums with life-size whales and larger-than-life dolphins, manatees and sea turtles.
“If enough people get excited about it, it becomes a project,” Robertson said of the group’s dynamics.
In addition to the mural options, the group also is considering using a newly painted tank as a backdrop for mounting art projects, she said.
The group’s next meeting will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the water tank near the entrance to the fine arts center for participants to assess the landscaping, the surface of the tank and the surrounding neighborhood.
Anyone interested in the project is invited to attend.
Robertson said the surface of the tank is so rough, the mural design will have to be simple, without details that would be lost in the surface irregularities.
On Thursday, Revitalize members met with Craig Fulton, Port Angeles’ director of public works; Corey Delikat, Port Angeles’ director of parks and recreation; and members of the Fine Arts Center staff.
They were told the city had money in the 2016 budget to repaint the tank as part of the regular planned maintenance and that the funds could be used toward a mural instead of another coat of beige paint, Robertson said.
The additional cost of paint needed to create a mural, and a clear coat to protect it, would require additional funds from Revitalize, she said.
Robertson said the project also would have to work with the city’s legal requirement for project bids to make sure all work is done within the city process.
Fulton was out of town Tuesday and not available for comment.
Delikat said the fine arts center has plans for a major renovation to its entry and parking lot and improvements to the tank would enhance those improvements.
Any changes made to the tank would have to be approved by the city and, because of its location, by the fine arts center’s board members, Delikat said.
The center was closed Tuesday, and staff did not return calls requesting comment.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
