PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles Downtown Association members will be asked today to vote for or against holding a lengthy First Street construction project during business hours.
The meeting and voluntary vote this morning will come four days after a frustrated merchant gathered 53 signatures protesting construction that would dig up First Street during the daytime, possibly affecting business.
City staff today will detail the project, which will mainly involve installing a stormwater pipe under the right lane of two-lane First Street between Valley and Laurel streets.
The dig will begin about March 1 and last until late May or late June — depending on whether work occurs during the day or night.
‘I’m not dictating’
Glenn Cutler, city public works and utilities director, said he will follow any direction given by the downtown association leadership.
“I am not dictating what is done,” he said.
Downtown association President Greg Voyles said the meeting — to be held at 7:30 a.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St. — is in response to “pushback” against a meeting held one week ago.
At that meeting, attended by only 10 downtown association members — including a few board members — city staff proposed switching the construction schedule from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Working during daylight and evenings, they said, would allow the project to be done by Memorial Day (May 30), seen as the start of the tourism season by downtown merchants.
Cutler left that meeting believing he had the support of the association to move to the daytime schedule, he said. He didn’t ask for a vote from the group, merely consensus.
One member, Lindi Lumens of Northwest Fudge and Confections, spoke against it.
When asked if the majority supported the move, he received no other objections.
But Voyles and another board member, Drew Schwab, who attended the meeting, said Tuesday they weren’t ready to give an answer at the time.
“We weren’t prepared for what they told us,” Voyles said.
First Street merchants
After hearing of the result of the meeting, many merchants on First Street, concerned that the schedule would be detrimental to their businesses and keep customers out of downtown, began to express frustration over the move among each other.
One of them, Don Zeller of Zeller’s Antique Mall, started a petition that carried 53 signatures from other First Street merchants urging City Hall to maintain the nighttime schedule, even if it meant another month of work.
Any loss of customers can be devastating to downtown business owners, many of whom are already struggling, said Brian and Jenice Shaw of The Trading Post.
“We don’t care if it takes two months longer,” said Jenice Shaw, as long as work doesn’t occur during the day.
Lumens said she is still concerned that her store would have to close, even though construction will be limited to the weekdays.
“I think that if they do it during the day, they will kill a lot of businesses,” she said.
Lumens said she will attend the meeting.
Zeller said Tuesday that he is looking forward to today’s meeting and plans to speak.
“I’m certainly going to give my two cents’ worth,” he said.
One First Street merchant has told the Peninsula Daily News that he supports the daytime schedule, but only on the condition of anonymity.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.