Found remains delay project at Oak Harbor

OAK HARBOR, Wash. – The finding of three sets of American Indian remains in Oak Harbor is delaying a $7 million construction project while tribes, the city and the state decide how to move forward.

But the state’s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation said the delay could have been avoided if the city had followed its suggestion to employ an archaeologist. The construction site sits near a known archaeological site. The skeletons could be hundreds of years old.

The Herald of Everett reports that construction has been stopped for two days after the remains were discovered on June 16, but the city can’t say how long the delay will be.