Construction continues on the 1.5-acre West End Park between Oak Street and Valley Creek in Port Angeles. Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Construction continues on the 1.5-acre West End Park between Oak Street and Valley Creek in Port Angeles. Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Delayed Port Angeles waterfront park now ‘targeted’ for Sept. 5 completion

PORT ANGELES — The city’s new 1.5-acre waterfront park has been held up by permitting delays, but it will be substantially complete in about seven weeks — almost three months later than planned.

“Our target is Sept. 5,” Port Angeles civil engineer Steve Zenovic, the park project’s design team coordinator, said Tuesday.

“June 21 was the original target date.”

But don’t expect to see much in the way of green at what the city has informally dubbed West End Park until well into the fall.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The drought will likely prevent workers from laying sod at the Railroad Avenue-Oak Street site until October.

“At this point, we will refrain from any plantings that are going to require consistent watering,” Nathan West, community and economic development director, said Tuesday.

But most elements of phase 2 of the $17 million improvement project will be finished enough to allow the site to host the Sept. 5 Jammin’ in the Park festival, scheduled from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The park’s kickoff event is sponsored by Nor’wester Rotary and Koenig Subaru.

Zenovic, a longtime Nor’wester Rotary member and a past president, is helping organize the get-together.

It will include seven bands, a beer and wine garden, a celebrity dunk tank — and a beach volleyball tournament at one of two newly developed, sandy pocket beaches.

West said no ribbon-cutting ceremony has yet been planned and that Jammin’ in the Park would, in effect, herald its opening.

The two beaches — one 80 feet by 200 feet, the other 80 feet by 130 feet — fringe the shoreline.

Three courts will be at the site and ready by the Sept. 5 festival for “classic” beach volleyball, Zenovic said.

During winter, the beaches proved to be well-protected from the elements.

“They are designed to handle bigger storms,” Zenovic said.

He said concrete for the park plazas was being poured Tuesday.

Zenovic, whose firm Zenovic & Associates Inc. is the lead engineering firm for the project, said complicated permitting requirements held up the project.

Phase 2 includes development of northern and southern connections to Olympic Discovery Trail, which requires state Department of Transportation permitting, a plaza turnaround and dedicated public gathering areas.

Improvements also will include truck access for High Tide Seafoods and other natural-resources-related businesses, a required feature for a state Department of Natural Resources permit.

And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitted creation of the beaches, which required at least 2,000 yards of sand from a pit west of Port Angeles.

Zenovic said it became more feasible to segregate the permits rather than combine them.

“It’s a park that has three different elements to it,” he explained.

“We broke it into separate permits by virtue of how the agencies work.”

He added that Transportation “does not want to hear about beaches, but if it’s in their scope, they have to pay attention to it.”

Phase 2 has required 13 permits and three National Environmental Policy Act assessments.

Other agencies involved in the planning, design, financing, construction, operation or use of the park include the Port of Port Angeles, Clallam County Economic Development Corp., Lower Elwha Klallam and Jamestown S’Klallam tribes, the state Community and Economic Revitalization Board, the state Recreation and Conservation Office, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The park is part of a city Waterfront Transportation Improvement Plan that has already seen an esplanade constructed along Railroad Avenue.

The plan envisions waterfront improvements that stretch west of the park, at Valley Creek Estuary just west of the park, to Hollywood Beach, about a quarter-mile east of the park.

West said in an earlier interview that permitting issues also unexpectedly raised the cost of phase 2 to $3.9 million.

Of that amount, $2.7 million is construction and $745,000 design engineering.

The project has received more than $1.7 million in state and federal grants.

West said at least $8.5 million has been spent on the entire waterfront improvement project.

________

Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Mason Combs is 4 feet, 3 inches tall and has red hair, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office. (Clallam County Sheriff’s Office)
Child located after agencies partner on search

A 10-year-old boy who had been missing since Tuesday has… Continue reading

Sequim research lab testing ways to use seaweed, resources

PNNL is only Department of Energy lab with marine facilities

Bonnie Obremski, front left, substitute garden manager, and volunteers Susan Savelle, yellow visor, Sarah Maloy, left rear, Paulette De Llario, right rear, and Mary Claire Hunt, rear, helped clean up the Salish Coast Production Garden at the Salish Elementary School in Port Townsend on Saturday. The garden produced more than 5,000 pounds of produce used for the school lunches last year and farmers are aiming for 7,000 pounds in 2025. Hunt will be honored as a community health hero by the Jefferson County Public Health department for her efforts in bringing together farmers and gardeners who donate their crops to the Jefferson County food bank with a presentation on Thursday at the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners’ chambers at the Jefferson County Courthouse. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Garden cleanup

Bonnie Obremski, front left, substitute garden manager, and volunteers Susan Savelle, yellow… Continue reading

Foundation purchases hospital equipment

Linear accelerator to be installed in May

Port Townsend updated on city’s workplan

Forty-five of 61 projects on track, city manager says

Welfare for Animals Guild receives $1,500 to provide spay and neuter services at the guild’s free veterinary clinics. Pictured, from left, are Laura Nieborsky, Barb Brabant, Emily Murphy and Mel Marshall.
Garden club makes donations through local grant program

The Port Angeles Garden Club has announced donations to… Continue reading

Facilities district for pool paused

Jefferson County does not receive grant

From left, Port Angeles school board members Sarah Methner, Mary Hebert, Stan Willams, Superintendent Marty Brewer, Kirsten Williams, Sandy Long and Nolan Duce, the district’s director of maintenance, turn the first shovel of dirt on Saturday at the location of the new construction just north of the present Stevens Middle School. An estimated crowd of 150 attended the ceremonial ground breaking. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Port Angeles School District breaks ground at new middle school

Building is expected to open to students in 2027

Family displaced following house fire

A Clallam County family has been displaced due a… Continue reading

Two investigated for burglarizing home

The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two individuals… Continue reading

Beach cleanups set for Earth Day weekend

Beach cleanups, a seed exchange, seed planting and music will mark Earth… Continue reading

Easter egg hunts scheduled for Saturday

Easter activities, including egg hunts and pictures with the Easter bunny, are… Continue reading