PORT ANGELES — Three bids were submitted to the Clallam County commissioners for general contractor services for the construction of the Joint Public Safety Facility.
Commissioners opened the bids during their regular meeting Monday.
The first bid was from H.B. Hansen Construction, Inc. for a total of $14.2 million with four alternate bids provided. The second bid was from Neeley Construction for a total of $15.57 million with an alternative provided. The final bid came from Interwest Construction for a total of $15.461 million.
Commissioners voted to remand the bids to the county administrator and the city of Port Angeles for review and recommendation.
For construction and management services for the project, only one bid from Vanir Construction Management Inc. was submitted. The bid amount was not announced during the meeting.
Commissioners also sent that bid to the county administrator and the city of Port Angeles for review and recommendation.
RV ordinance
The bulk of Monday’s meeting — nearly two hours — was spent in a public hearing for a proposed ordinance which would amend the county’s existing zoning ordinance to address the increased use of recreational vehicles (RVs) as homes throughout the county.
Director of Community Development Bruce Emery first explained how the county came to broach the subject by reading from a memo he sent to the Planning Commission on the issue.
“In a nutshell, the use of recreational vehicles as an alternative means of housing has been occurring in Clallam County and across the state with increased frequency,” Emery said. “The reasons are many and varied, but the circumstance is primarily driven by a substantial increase in the price of housing and reduced production of new, affordable housing stock. In short, many are resorting to alternative housing situations.”
Those alternative situations include unit sharing and the use of non-traditional housing units such as RVs, he said.
“Along with this increase in residential use of RVs are the emergence of collateral issues,” Emery said. “Including aesthetic impacts, problems related to sewage disposal, critical area impacts and solid waste disposal issues, to name a few.”
The county needs to strike the right balance between protecting communities from the issues related to uncontrolled use of RVs and the need to recognize that many citizens do not have alternative options when it comes to housing, Emery said.
“Human compassion demands a reasonable compromise,” he said. “The way the code currently reads is if you have a residence, you cannot have an RV being occupied for more than 90 consecutive days or it violates the ordinance.”
Emery took issue with one provision recommended by the Planning Commission which was to limit occupancy of an RV to no more than 180 days per 12-month period. Although the provision aligns with recommendations from the state department of Labor & Industries on the use of RVs, Emery mentioned he had already received many comments from people against the provision and stated the Realtors Association of Port Angeles and for Sequim both did not support the provision.
The provision would be difficult to enforce but also would put the county in the position of having to evict people from possibly the only home they could afford, Emery said.
“So I think that needs to be taken very seriously,” he said.
In fact, Emery recommended eliminating the 180-day provision from the ordinance.
“It’s unenforceable, and in the situations where it applies, I believe it would be cruel,” he said.
When the issue was opened up for a public hearing, most of the people who gave testimony were against the ordinance, seeing it as the county infringing on what people are allowed to do on their own property.
Clallam County resident Robin Youngblood told commissioners that her son and his girlfriend live on a 40-acre piece of property in an RV.
“My son is disabled, they are both in recovery,” she said. “They want to stay in recovery. Where are they gonna do that when they live on $967 a month?”
Clallam County resident Angela Kreitzer took issue with the ordinance mentioning the aesthetics of RVs on private property because it’s the county telling people how to handle their own backyards.
“It blows my mind that you guys wanna tell property owners how to live in any type of way,” Clallam County resident Elijah Smith said. “Anyone that’s paying taxes deserves to have their land be theirs and not be told what to do.”
Kelly Sanders of Port Angeles said she’s a landlord in the county and in the city as well as being a teacher for 31 years.
“I care about people,” Sanders said. “Housing is a serious issue here in Port Angeles. It’s too expensive to buy a house, to pay taxes and insurance on a house, to rent a house with three times the rent for a lot of people is impossible.”
People are constantly contacting Sanders, asking for help with finding a place to live, she said.
Clallam County resident Jake Segers urged commissioners to reject the ordinance in its entirety until it can be reworked for property owners.
After the public hearing closed, commissioners voted to extend the deadline for written public comments to Nov. 25.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
