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Port Angeles: After the Hood Canal Bridge, what's next for the
graving yard? 2003-07-13 NEWS
ANALYSIS BY PAUL GOTTLIEB Port Angeles, WA - Will the new Port Angeles graving yard, on what's now the North Olympic Peninsula's largest piece of vacant industrial waterfront property, be a graveyard for buried aspirations? A short-term job fix -- with no long-range future? * Without an aggressive effort to market the facility, ``it will just be a hole in the ground that collects water'' after Hood Canal Bridge refurbishing work is finished there in 2007, says one consultant. * Another consultant says it's wrong to think that the graving yard can be used in the future for other marine uses like ship repair. There's too much competition, he says. * Still another expert, ferry system Port Engineer John Christensen, in charge of the ferry system's commercial shipyard use, says the graving yard might be suitable for ferry maintenance and repair. * Maybe, say two Port of Port Angeles commissioners, the graving yard could be used to load garbage scows. The graving yard may also become the centerpiece of condemnation proceedings and court action later this year -- with a Clallam County jury deciding ``just compensation.'' |