PORT ANGELES — Jamestown S’Klallam Chairman Ron Allen has not given up on redeveloping Rayonier Inc.’s waterfront property.
Allen told the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday that he is working all angles to gain political support for his Salish Village concept despite concerns that the company plans to return the waterfront property, which once housed a pulp mill, back to its natural state — an idea supported by the Jamestown’s sister tribe, the Lower Elwha Klallam.
“We think it’s still an opportunity,” he said. “The opportunity is still there.”
Concept unveiled
Allen unveiled the tribe’s redevelopment concept, a combination of residential, commercial and light industrial uses, in August.
He acknowledged that he has yet to speak to Rayonier officials about it, adding that he wants to first gain more information about the company’s efforts to resolve its natural resource liabilities.
The Lower Elwha Klallam — a partner in the environmental cleanup of the 75-acre site — and officials with the city of Port Angeles and Port of Port Angeles said that Rayonier plans to conduct a complete habitat restoration of the property, leaving no room for development.
The purpose is twofold, they said: to compensate for damage the mill caused to natural resources and to gain environmental restoration credits that it can sell or use as a tax credit.
Rayonier evaluating
Rayonier officials said they are considering their options for the property and haven’t directly addressed the possibility of no development.
“As for future use of the site, that remains under evaluation,” Rayonier spokeswoman Robin Keegan said in a voicemail. She couldn’t be reached for further comment.
A pulp mill that would become a Rayonier property was built on the site at the end of Ennis Street in 1930 and closed in 1997, leaving contamination in the form of such toxins as dioxins, furans and PCBs, though Rayonier has cleaned up most of the “hot spots” at the site, Matt Beirne, Lower Elwha Klallam environmental coordinator, has said.
It has been a state Department of Ecology cleanup site since 2000.
Beirne said the tribe “stands by” its support for a no-development option for the property.
Part of the Rayonier site is on the ancient Klallam village of Y’innis.
Beirne and Allen both have said the two tribes’ relationship has not been harmed by their differing views on the issue.
“They have their own position, and we have ours,” Beirne said.
Rayonier approached the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service about resolving its natural resource liability around the start of the year, agency officials have said.
But so far, no plans have been presented, said Jennifer Steger, the Northwest and Alaska regional supervisor for NOAA’s restoration center.
Steger said she hadn’t heard from Rayonier or its consultant on the matter, Windward Environmental LLC of Seattle, whether it plans to conduct habitat restoration for the entire property and leave it undeveloped.
Windward officials have declined to comment.
Steger said it’s still being determined which potential stakeholders, including the state Department of Ecology, state Department of Natural Resources and tribes, will form a council of trustees with NOAA to oversee habitat restoration.
The next step after that, perhaps to begin toward the end of the summer, will be to determine how much damage Rayonier caused to natural resources, said Steger, adding that such processes tend to “work at a glacial pace.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
