PORT ANGELES — Harbor-Works Development Authority is on schedule according to goals set by its board about four months ago, Executive Director Jeff Lincoln told the board Monday.
Lincoln reviewed progress on the 60- to 90-day goals that were adopted in June.
The process of “due diligence” on redeveloping the Rayonier Inc.-owned site of a former pulp mill in northeast Port Angeles began when an agreement was reached between Rayonier and Harbor-Works to allow the organization access to previously unreleased studies as well as to the property, itself, Lincoln said.
The agreement will determine the risks, liabilities and feasibility of redeveloping the waterfront property.
The city created Harbor-Works, with support from the Port of Port Angeles, in May 2008 to acquire the mill site and redevelop the property.
The public development authority is expected to assist in the environmental cleanup of the land, but exactly to what extent is dependent upon negotiations with Rayonier.
The property has been a state Department of Ecology cleanup site since 2000. It is contaminated with pockets of PCBs, dioxin, arsenic and other toxins left by the pulp mill, which operated for 68 years before closing in 1997.
The due diligence process will help the public development authority determine what kind of risks and liabilities there will be with acquiring the land, Lincoln said.
Lincoln said there will never be zero liability, but that the authority is trying to reduce the risk of acquiring the contaminated property.
Lincoln also asked the board members to begin considering what kind of policy decisions will be made in the future.
“We need to think about, for example, if we’ll want to break the property into pieces and have the port deal with part, the [Lower Elwha Klallam] tribe work with their part and the city develop part — or if we want it all developed privately,” Lincoln said.
“Or we’ll be the organization that will bring in a master planner to determine what all of the land should be and to develop it that way.
“These are the kind of policy decisions we will be looking at.”
The board did not make any decisions Monday regarding policy.
Lincoln said the permitting process for developing the land is about a year away.
He said that a forum on Thursday would include a presentation on Harbor-Works as well as individual stations for the community to ask questions of consultants and representatives from each area — including the environmental aspect of the Rayonier site, the marking analysis to determine the property’s development value, Rayonier, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe as well as an area for Harbor-Works staff and board to talk individually to members of the public.
The forum will be at 6:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ public meeting room at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
