PORT ANGELES – The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office is seeking an $8.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to aid in constructing the Joint Public Safety Facility in Port Angeles. This funding is part of the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, which supports projects that benefit military installations.
Sheriff’s Chief Civil Deputy Diane Harvey, who worked on the application, explained how the local facility would meet the criteria.
“This program requires us to delineate the military value that the community project provides. With us, the Navy has a transit protection facility located in Clallam County and its operation is the movement of ballistic submarines which have to surface in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. So, our public safety facility would provide military value to that maritime mission,” said Harvey.
Harvey told Clallam County Commissioners this week they have received support from the Navy to proceed with the application.
“We met with senior representatives of the Navy who believe that our emergency management and communication and 911 dispatch center, in a resilient secured location that is very close but not in the tsunami inundation zone, will provide great military value. We are offering the Navy to be able to conduct their training and exercises in our new facility. And of course, they would have a seat at the table in any emergency incident where they could use it as a command center,” said Harvey.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $13 million and will include the Emergency Operations Center, the Emergency Management division, and Peninsula Communications (PenCom), which handles 911 calls. There are also plans to add a westside city fire station in the future. The facility is planned to be built on property off Edgewood Drive near the airport in west Port Angeles.
If the grant application is approved in mid-August, the Department of Defense will assist in ensuring the county meets the grant’s requirements, including starting construction by mid-September 2025.