PORT ANGELES – At Wednesday’s Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce meeting, Executive Director of the William Shore Memorial Pool Steve Burke presented the latest news, architectural renderings and a virtual walk-through video of the pool renovation project.

The final business day of the pool as we know it is Friday, May 24, and the final event that day will be a dog swim from 6-7:00pm. Burke says they’ll lower the water level so that smaller dogs can splash around in the shallow end.

The $16 million renovation is being paid for with combined bond amounts of $12 million and $4.5 million dollars in grants, including $840,000 thought have been approved by state legislators. In fact, that amount has been included in the House budget but is not in the Senate budget. Legislators will now negotiate a compromise budget. We asked Burke if he was concerned about Olympia coming through and what the back-up plan is if they don’t do so.

Wednesday’s Chamber meeting also gave members a chance to say “thank you” to Edna Peterson, owner of Necessities and Temptations gift store, a Port Angeles institution for two decades, which closed at the end of March.

The property was purchased by the Lower Elwha Tribe and will be razed to make way for the Tribe’s hotel project, expected to begin construction sometime this year.