BY PEPPER FISHER
Port Angeles – As we reported Wednesday, the Board of Directors of the North Olympic History Center (NOHC) voted to reject the City of Port Angeles’ offer to buy the entire Lincoln School property, which they intended to convert into multi-family housing.
The total value of the City’s offer came to a little over three quarters of a million dollars. NOHC’s Executive Director David Brownell told KONP that it would cost in the neighborhood of $2 million to replace the upgraded gymnasium building they use to safely store their massive collection of historic artifacts.
“You know, we’re not against housing in any way, shape or form. We’re just not in a position where we can sell our entire campus, because we can’t afford to move.”
The City received notice from the NOHC in a letter on June 10, and quickly issued a news release to express their disappointment in the NOHC Board’s decision.
City Manager Nathan West described it as “a missed opportunity for our community,” saying staff had been working for over a year to propose solutions that would allow the City to acquire the property and save the historic school building.
“I know these decisions are difficult. I understand the merits of the decision as described in the letter to the city of Port Angeles. I just think it couldn’t be more important that at times, we need to recognize the long-term consequences to the community of our decisions. And we need to also think ahead to future generations and recognize that just looking at the direct impacts to our organization internally are not always the best or right decisions relative to long-term community decisions that really impact our overall community on a long-term basis.”
The City’s news release said they “had hoped that the profit the NOHC gained from this sale would be more than enough to cover not only the relocation costs, but also the expenses for professional services to pack, move, and store the artifacts, documents and works of art that NOHC has collected over the years.”
City Manager West added this:
“It would not be difficult for any local moving company to move artifacts with care for a matter of cost that’s probably less than $10,000. So, in the big picture, I don’t think moving really should be part of an ultimate decision relative to the future of this important historic school.”
West said the City of Port Angeles will continue to pursue other projects and partnerships that result in new and much-needed housing development in the community.
As for the future of the Lincoln School property, Brownell told KONP in a follow-up email, “Our entire property will be rezoned Commercial as part of the 2026 comp plan process, which we hope will help us find a developer interested in revitalizing our corner of town and develop some mixed-use combination of commercial and housing on the property we plan to sell.”