Construction Alert No. 15
Pioneer Way Reconstruction Project

July 27, 2011

Meeting Between State, Tribal, City Officials Yields Positive Results

Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP), the agency with responsibility to review, issue and manage archaeological permits in Washington, convened a meeting with representatives of DAHP, consulting Tribes and the City. After more than four hours of productive discussion, all parties emerged with agreement on a clear blueprint for moving forward with the City’s two archaeological permits. The Assistant State Archaeologist drafted the Pioneer Way permit this morning and has distributed it for comments to consulting Tribes. In a conversation this morning, we learned that DAHP expects to issue the first permit, covering Pioneer Way, either tomorrow or early next week. The permit covering the pit site should follow shortly thereafter.

While much of the discussion was quite detailed, there were two overarching themes that emerged. First, there was a strong interest amongst all parties to move ahead as swiftly as possible with recovery and re-burial of the disturbed human remains. Second, everyone around the table concurred that the current condition of the Pioneer Way project site presents some real concerns with respect to pedestrian and vehicular safety. The archaeological work authorized by the permits will be responsive to these two themes. Except for the immediate discovery area (approximately between Ireland and Ilwaco Streets), sampling for additional archaeological resources will occur only in those locations where further ground disturbance is necessary (such as tree locations, small utility boxes, and power and water connections to streetlights).

Obviously, this is potentially very good news for the project schedule. If the sampling work outside of the primary discovery area results in no new discoveries, then construction can resume over most of the project very soon. City staff will be meeting tomorrow with Strider Construction to put together a plan for bringing crews, equipment and subcontractors back into town once we get a green light.

Key City Contact People

Larry Cort
Project Manager
360-914-7107
lcort@oakharbor.org

Joe Stowell Rhonda Severns
City Engineer
360-279-4520
jstowell@oakharbor.org

Rhonda Severns
City Utilities
360-914-7256
rhseverns@oakharbor.org