PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles staff presented an idea Monday for the potential use of the Rayonier mill site, once it is cleaned up, that would include possible port ownership of a portion of the property.
Commissioners will not vote on the idea until its Feb 22 meeting. They described as a suggestion to Harbor-Works Development Authority, without any formal commitment to take ownership of the property now owned by Rayonier Inc.
Harbor-Works, a public development authority, which was created by the city with the port’s support in May 2008, had developed three potential plans for the eventual development of the 75-acre site on the Port Angeles waterfront.
Harbor-Works was created to acquire the mill site still owned by Rayonier Inc. and redevelop the property, as well as assist in the environmental cleanup of the land, which has been overseen by the state Department of Ecology, in partnership with Rayonier and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, since 2000.
The city and port have loaned Harbor-Works a total of $1.3 million.
The three plans — or alternatives — are considered “mix and match,” Harbor-Works Executive Director Jeff Lincoln has said.
Industry, cultural center
The idea presented to the port commissioners at the Monday meeting included a marine industry development on the property west of Ennis Creek, and east of the creek, a cultural center or museum based on the fact that a portion of the area was the site of an ancient Klallam village.
“This by no means is a final proposed land-use concept,” said Jeff Robb, port executive director, Monday.
The port’s idea matches parts of two different alternatives that Harbor-Works had proposed.
Port staff and commissioners rejected the marina component of the marine industries area, which is part of the Harbor-Works suggestion.
“We believe it is not the ideal area for a marina,” Robb said.
If marine industries are located there, the port could end up owning part of the land — but both Robb and commissioners emphasized that decision was not imminent.
“If you decide to vote on this to encourage Harbor-Works to pursue this concept, it is not a commitment,” Robb said.
“Before we would consider anything, we would need to do our own due diligence and financial pro forma.”
Commission president George Schoenfeldt and commissioner Jim McEntire decided not to vote on the alternative until commissioner John Calhoun was present.
Calhoun was out of town presenting a report on behalf of the Olympic Natural Resource Commission, where he is employed.
Logical authority
Harbor-Works’ board president Orville Campbell said Saturday the port was a logical authority to transfer ownership of part of the land, if Harbor-Works does take ownership of the property from Rayonier.
That’s because a draft market analysis by Berger-ABAM of Seattle, which Harbor-Works released last week, said that there will likely be little demand for marine-based industries and other development on the site during the next five years.
“I think the bottom line is that the immediate substantial development for the property is probably unrealistic,” Campbell said then.
“The port might be the logical entity to ultimately take control of that property, market it and hold it for appropriate development,” he added.
If such a transaction occurs, Campbell said, it would be after the property is cleaned up enough to allow redevelopment, which he said is an expense that the current owner, Rayonier, will pay.
The site at the end of Ennis Street in Port Angeles has pockets of toxic contamination from a pulp mill that was operated there for 68 before it was closed in 1997.
Part of the reason the city formed Harbor-Works was to help in gaining ownership of a large tank on the site.
The tank would be used to temporarily store untreated sewage and storm water that would otherwise overflow into Port Angeles Harbor during heavy rain.
Schoenfeldt said Harbor-Works shields the city and port from cleanup liability.
Harbor-Works will decide whether or not to acquire the site by August.
It would negotiate its role in cleanup with Rayonier through a purchase and sale agreement.
The alternatives as developed by Harbor-Works include:
• Alternative A, which describes a diverse development with marine, retail and industrial uses.
• Alternative B also includes retail and commercial development but adds a proposal for a cultural research facility and museum east of Ennis Creek, where the village of Y’innis is presumed to have been.
• Alternative C focuses on marine industries, and includes a marina and an industrial area.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
