Wednesday
Up to the next level
Area expected to see more showers B10
PA senior is All-Peninsula Girls Swimming MVP B1
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS April 13, 2016 | 75¢
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
Always time to play
CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Port Townsend’s Lincoln Building, a former school, will either be renovated into a senior housing facility or torn down.
Housing for seniors or demolition? CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Kimber Lee, 1, and her brother E.J. Lee, 6, visited the Port Townsend Library on Tuesday to check out some books but also carved out some playtime.
Jefferson County aims to buy floodplain land which is occupied now — are in the Big Quilcene River floodplain. The properties have a combined area of about 2.5 acres, according to Tami Pokorny, an environmental health specialist for the county. They have a combined assessment of $294,774, although the final offers to the three owners will be based on both the assessment and appraisals that have yet to take place. “We will be offering fair market value,” Pokorny said. “We are not taking anybody’s land.”
3 parcels would boost recreation on Big Quilcene BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
QUILCENE — Jefferson County is negotiating to purchase three residential properties on Rodgers Street and Fremont Avenue in an area that is prone to flooding. The three properties — one of
The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners approved going ahead with the project during its regular Monday meeting. It was part of the consent agenda and was not discussed.
Protect habitat The purchase would protect salmon habitat and increase recreational opportunities, Pokorny said. “This is part of an ongoing effort to preserve the habitat,” she said. TURN
TO
PROPERTY/A4
Former PT school’s fate is tied to 2017 deadline BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT TOWNSEND — The Peninsula Housing Authority has a little less than a year to present a plan to turn the Lincoln Building into a senior housing center. Otherwise, the historic building at 450 Fir St. on the Port Townsend High School campus will be demolished. “If I were betting on this, I wouldn’t know where to go right now,” Superintendent David Engle said. With this in mind, the district is preparing a demolition plan that would kick in should an acceptable proposal not materialize by the April 1, 2017, deadline. The building opened in 1894 as the town’s only school, serving in that capacity until 1980, when it was deemed unsafe for classes. It housed the district’s administrative headquarters until 2012.
It has since fallen into such disrepair that it is now used only for storage, with entry restricted. In November, the Port Townsend School Board unanimously approved a resolution to allow the Peninsula Housing Authority to develop a feasibility study on the cost and process of reconfiguring the dilapidated 30,000-square-foot structure into housing units.
Progress report On Monday, two housing authority staff members presented the School Board with a progress report. The board took no action and will receive another project update in the fall. The housing authority told the board that the agency’s success will depend on the support of three state agencies. TURN
TO
LINCOLN/A4
PA’s deputy mayor stands by her actions Ethics panel calls for admonishment BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd stood by her abrupt adjournment of a Feb. 2 City Council meeting despite an ethics board recommendation Tuesday that the City Council should orally admonish her for it. “I feel like I acted properly,” she said Tuesday afternoon following the three-member panel’s unanimous decision. “I do stand for civil discourse. “I feel like I acted appropriately under the circumstances, but I do appreciate the commit-
ment of the ethics committee.” Mayor Patrick Downie said Tuesday he expects the council will discuss the recommendation in public session at its next regular meeting April 19. “I would have to believe there are people on the council who want this to be discussed at the earliest opportunity, including Cherie.” The ethics board composed of Frank Prince Jr., Grant Meiner and Danetta Rutten had decided April 1 that Kidd violated the ethics codes by adjourning the Feb. 2 council meeting with speakers waiting to be heard.
WILDER Honda 133 JETTA WAY, PORT ANGELES
You Can Count On Us!
ACCORD
Sedan CVT LX
Rejected request Smith said she was heartened by the board Tuesday also rejecting a request filed by Kidd and Kidd’s taxpayer-funded attorney, Michael Kenyon of
Issaquah, that the board reconsider its decision that found Kidd violated the ethics code by cutting short the council session. “I’m glad they stuck with their guns,” Smith said. During the board’s 45-minute meeting Tuesday, Prince read from a 1½-page prepared statement that praised Kidd. It said Kidd, a former mayor who is in her third and final term on the City Council, has served
199
FEATURED SPECIAL LEASE
$
641567032
New 2016 Honda
The board was ruling on what remained of a multi-part complaint filed by Marolee Smith, a former City Council candidate. “It’s better than nothing,” Smith said after Tuesday’s meeting. The ethics board had dismissed Smith’s other allegations, such as claiming Kidd intended to prohibit free speech, was abusive toward the public and that Kidd demeaned, harassed or intimidated another person.
PER MO. FOR 36 MOS.
Ad Expires 5/2/16.
452-9268 • 800-927-9395
$1,999.00 total due at signing.
Includes down payments with no security deposit. Plus tax, license and a negotiable $150 documentation fee. For well qualified lessees. See Wilder Honda for complete details.
“I feel like I acted appropriately under the circumstances, but I do appreciate the commitment of the ethics committee.” CHERIE KIDD Port Angeles deputy mayor the public tirelessly and that she adjourned the Feb. 2 meeting “in a tense and politically charged atmosphere” in which a volatile subject, fluoridation of city water, was addressed. “Many members of the audience seemed to be in a hostile mood,” said the recommendation. TURN
TO
ETHICS/A4
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 88th issue — 2 sections, 20 pages
BUSINESS CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY DEAR ABBY DEATHS HOROSCOPE LETTERS NATION/WORLD
B4 B4 B9 A9 B9 A8 B9 A9 A3
*PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT
PENINSULA POLL PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER
A2 B5 B1 B10