PORT ANGELES – After years in the making, it’s finally happened. The Port Angeles City Council and Clallam County Commissioners have found a property they both agree is the best spot available to build Joint Public Safety Facility, and they voted in a special meeting Monday to purchase it.
The 7-acre parcel of undeveloped land in the 2000 block of Edgewood Drive, just south of Airport Garden Center, will be the site of the County’s new Emergency Operations Center, and a new 911 call center, or Pencom, which is managed by the Port Angeles Police Department.
The catch is, they’ll own it and manage it jointly. We spoke with Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter about the deal.
“Our ownership will be what’s called “tenants in common”, so we will mutually own the entire property. What’s nice about that is, there is no duct tape on the grass, “This is our side, this is your side.” And certainly, from an operations perspective, we don’t ever expect that. But, I think tenants in common is just, it’s a smart and easy way to go. It also, to me, really solidifies that partnership part that is something we’ve really been working hard on. We all are on the same page, and soon, literally, will be on the title together.”
The parties split the $300,000 price down the middle, and the deal is expected to close by the end of the month.
Of course, getting the thing built is another huge step, but designers have been working on that aspect for some time, and Commissioner Randy Johnson sounds confident that the process will move along smoothly.
“The EOC, the folks involved in that from the county, are looking at designs and all those things, and I’m sure that Carl from the 911 side, from the City, is looking at his alternatives. And of course, we need to get moving forward, again, jointly, to both design and get everything ready to go. So, we can begin, hopefully, the building operation next year sometime.”
The main thing for today, at least in Mayor Dexter’s mind, is that this arduous and hard fought first step has been accomplished, and she’s taking a few moments to appreciate it.
“Yesterday, leading up to the meeting, I thought, “Well, this is just an important baby step, and it’s nice that we’re sort of breaking it down into these little chunks.” But when I got home from meeting, I felt like it was actually a really big accomplishment, and particularly because we’ve been working on it for so long. So, it feels really good and its really nice. Also, to be able to take this very concrete step, we have a lot of people who are invested in this, literally, and are excited, I think, also to see us move forward. And so, it feels good to be at a place where we can say, “Okay, all right, check the box.”