PORT ANGELES — City Pier is getting a new railing.
The Port Angeles City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to adopt a revised six-year capital facilities plan that includes a newly-funded project to replace the rusty railing at the pier.
City Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said it would cost about $165,000 to replace 1,300 linear feet of existing railing with a hot-dip galvanized material that will last for a “very long time.”
“That’s a project that we could probably install in-house,” Delikat told the City Council on Tuesday.
City Pier improvements were one of several downtown/waterfront projects that the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce board had asked the council to fund in the 2020-25 capital facilities plan and transportation improvement plan.
Mayor Sissi Bruch said the railing at the pier is in “dire need” of replacement.
“If we took on the railing project, we’d probably start installation probably this fall and carry it into the wintertime,” Delikat told the council in a second public hearing on the capital facilities plan.
At the first public hearing June 4, chamber officials asked the city to prioritize the third phase of the waterfront redevelopment project, designate Railroad Avenue as a transportation arterial and to explore partnerships for the maintenance and management of City Pier.
The council then requested a staff report on waterfront development, Railroad Avenue improvements, relevant City Pier projects and the city’s downtown improvement plan.
In a Tuesday briefing, City Manager Nathan West said the city had not received the grants it needs to implement Phase 3 of the waterfront project, which is listed as an unfunded $8.1 million project in the capital facilities plan.
West added that the $200,000 Railroad Avenue overlay would be a “temporary fix” because parts of the street are built on an old railroad trestle that needs to be removed.
Paving on Railroad Avenue should coincide with infrastructure improvements and be timed to minimize impacts on planned construction projects like the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s hotel and renovations to the Landing Mall and Red Lion Hotel, West said.
Community and Economic Development Director Allyson Brekke said the downtown improvement plan was taken out of the capital facilities plan because it is not a capital project.
“The planning effort should occur first so we can have a community conversation of really what we want to see downtown,” Brekke said.
Council member Mike French said the onus falls on the city to follow through with the downtown planning process.
The 292-page capital facilities plan and transportation improvement plan lists more than 250 funded and unfunded projects for the next six years.
The document is available on the city’s website, www.cityofpa.us, under “Finance.”
“I think one of the things we are most appreciative of is that fact that the (Port Angeles Regional) Chamber of Commerce came forward and basically said ‘How can we help? How can we help move these projects forward?’ ” West said told the council.
West encouraged chamber officials to work with the Port Angeles Downtown Association to obtain estimated timelines for various downtown projects.
Chamber officials planned to meet with downtown business owners and nonprofits Wednesday to discuss timelines and areas of collaboration, Chamber President Jim Haguewood said.
“We’re committed at the chamber to continue to do this,” Haguewood told the council.
“We’re going to start tomorrow and we’ll probably report back to you later on.”
Jim McEntire, chair of the Port Angeles Business Association’s Government Affairs Committee, suggested that the city seek state or federal funds for the Railroad Avenue project through the Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
“PABA interest is really to make sure that the spotlight stays on this project, understanding that the greater waterfront development thing may be phased over a period of years, if not decades,” said McEntire, a former Port of Port Angeles and Clallam County commissioner.
Deputy Mayor Kate Dexter said the city’s capital facilities plan is a living document that “affects everybody.”
“We can’t do it alone, guys,” Bruch told the public speakers.
“We need everybody here.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@ peninsuladailynews.com.
