All-American’s oratory
Wednesday Sun holds sway in Peninsula’s skies today B10
Cougars receiver has gift for gab and grabs B1
Peninsula Daily News August 3, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Clean water rules adopted
‘Strong hopes’
EPA to decide on state’s regs THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JESSE MAJOR/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Construction crews work Tuesday to expand the intersection at U.S. Highway 101 and Dry Creek Road.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribe looks ahead in economics
Presence expanded on its property at U.S. Highway 101 BY JESSE MAJOR
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe is continuing to expand its economic reach in the area, which includes expanding the tribe’s property on the corner of U.S. Highway 101 and Dry Creek Road, said Michael Peters, the tribe’s CEO.
Crews are working now to expand the intersection and the tribe has hopes of expanding services at Lower Elwha Food & Fuel, which opened in May, Peters told a packed crowd at a Port Angeles Business Association meeting Tuesday morning. “We have strong hopes — and we know already because we are ahead on our projections in sales — to talk about expanding that property,” he said. Expansions would likely start off simple, he said. An addition he said the convenience store needs soon is hot food. “We need to address hot food,” he said. “We have customers saying we need to have chicken, jo-jos, things
like that.” The Elwha River Casino currently provides deli sandwiches for the store. Once improvements are made to the intersection, the tribe might look at increasing the number of gas pumps. The new gas station already is getting a backlog of vehicles during peak hours, he said. Among the improvements to Highway 101 is a deceleration lane for westbound traffic to turn right onto Dry Creek Road. There will also be right and left turn lanes from Dry Creek onto Highway 101, he said. TURN
TO
TRIBE/A5
SEATTLE — State regulators have adopted new clean-water rules tied partly to how much fish people eat after years of heated debate over how clean the state’s water should be. Now it’s up to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency— which stepped in last fall to write its own rules for Washington — to decide whether the state’s plan is good enough. “We believe our new rule is strong, yet reasonable. It sets standards that are protective and achievable,” Ecology Director Maia Bellon said in a statement issued Monday. She noted that the EPA has indicated it prefers states to write their own rules and she believes Washington’s can be approved by the federal agency. A message to an EPA spokesman in Seattle was not immediately returned. Federal law requires rivers and other water bodies to be clean enough so people can safely swim and eat fish from those waters. The rules set limits on pollutants that factories, wastewater treatment plants and other industrial facilities can discharge into state waters.
Fish consumption rate The state’s rules dramatically raise the current fish-consumption rate to 175 grams a day, which would protect people who eat about a serving of fish a day. Tribes and environmental groups have pushed for more stringent rules to reduce water pollution and protect the people who eat the most fish. Cities and businesses have said the technology isn’t available to meet stricter rules and it could cost billions of dollars with little or no benefit to the environment. The Ecology Department has made several attempts at drafting new rules since 2011, and has missed its own deadlines. TURN
TO
FISH/A4
Regulations for vacation rentals are eyed Clallam public hearing is planned BY PAUL GOTTLIEB
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES —Unincorporated Clallam County’s growing and unfettered inventory of short-term vacation rentals is on the verge of getting regulated. Clallam County commissioners agreed Monday to set a public hearing for a draft ordinance regulating vacation rentals that the planning commission recommended for approval July 20. The date of the hearing hasn’t been set. Commissioner Mike Chapman said Tuesday that he expects the hearing to be in late
Auguest or early September. Short-term rentals also an issue in neighboring Port Townsend, where the city Planning Commission voted 6-0 July 13 to recommend the prohibition of short-term rentals of under 29 days in which owners do not live on-site. The new Clallam County regulations are driven by residents’ complaints and the growth of Airbnb. The San Francisco-based company founded in 2008 connects vacationers directly with rentals and has more than 2 million listings worldwide.
IN STOCK NOW!
“It was past time to pay attention to it,” Mary Ellen Winborn, county Department of Community Development director, said Tuesday. “People complain all the time.” Vacation rentals of under a month in residences where the owners are not present are not regulated in the Clallam County comprehensive plan. That includes no rules on how many people can rent the places. Under the proposed ordinance, the maximum number of visitors would be determined by the capacity of the septic system, and one space of on-site parking would be provided for every bedroom in the vacation rental. The county would conduct
safety inspections of the accommodations prior to being rented, and owners would have to meet local and state regulations for business licenses and lodging taxes. The need for new regulations “was driven more about the complaints, and the more we looked into it, we realized it was because of the need, just because of the number,” Winborn said. “We have over 400 Airbnbs in the area. “We know Airbnb is there, and people are calling and saying, ‘What do I have to do to be an Airbnb.’ “It was past time to pay attention to it.” She recalled one woman who became a default landlord for a
NUMBER #1 SELLING SMALL TRAILER IN ITS CLASS LAST YEAR!
21,995
681660201
360-457-7715
1536 Front St., Port Angeles M-F 9-6 • Sat 9-5:00
www.wilderrvs.com
TO
RENTAL/A4
100th year, 184th issue — 2 sections, 20 pages
Fully Loaded Units $ Weight is 2,750lbs.
WILDER RV You Can Count On Us!
TURN
INSIDE TODAY’S Peninsula Daily News
Come in and see what everyone is buying!
1 at this price. Stk#R1376. Add tax, license and a negotiable $150 documentation fee. See Wilder RV for complete details. Subject to prior sale. Photos for illustrative purposes only. Ad expires 1 week from date of publication.
neighboring short-term rental after the renters had trouble with the septic system. “She had to reset the septic system alarm all the time.” Winborn said most of the complaints have been generated from waterfront parcels in Sequim, followed by the Port Angeles area. Senior Planner Donella Clark said the regulation will “level the playing field a little bit more” with bed and breakfasts and other lodging establishments that abide by land-use and other regulations. Winborn said the new regulation also will make it easier for county Code Enforcement Officer Barb McFall to address neighborhood concerns.
BUSINESS CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY DEAR ABBY DEATHS HOROSCOPE LETTERS NATION/WORLD
B4 B6 B5 A9 B5 A8 B5 A9 A3
PENINSULA POLL PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER
A2 B7 B1 B10