PORT ANGELES – Crafting a strategic plan for downtown Port Angeles has reached a public outreach period.
For the past year, a group organized through the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce has worked with stakeholders downtown about what the future of the downtown might look like.
Chamber Executive Director Marc Abshire says the plan was born out of the big developments coming downtown.
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“Downtown, we’re looking at about $130 million dollars of private investment going into projects over the next couple of years. It presents both an opportunity and, we think, a necessity to take a look at the downtown itself and envision a future.”
Jim Haguewood, who is a chamber board member and has worked helping develop similar strategic plans for other communities, says the process is still in an information-gathering phase. And next, they’ll ask the public the weigh in through an online survey.
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“It’s a consumer or customer sentiment survey right now. So, what are people think about downtown; what are the attributes that they enjoy; what are some of the things that they don’t enjoy; what do they think is missing; what are the most important parts to that.”
That survey will go live in the next couple of weeks. In the spring, Haguewood says they plan public breakout sessions to further generate goals for the next five years in the downtown.
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“One segment is about how are you developing and building your product. There’s going to be another piece about marketing and promotion. Then you have another piece that that has to do with how are you organized? And then the last piece, particularly in regards to downtown districts like this, has a lot to do with the infrastructure the public spaces. How are they maintained? How are they designed?”
Abshire says the process has gelled well because all the stakeholders have abandoned any silo mentality and are working together better than ever in the past. They’ve even titled the project Elevate Port Angeles 2026.