PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Harbor-Works Development Authority now has the $1 million it requested to cover its expected costs through 2010 and become ready to acquire Rayonier Inc.’s former pulp mill site.
The City Council, in a 5-1 vote with Council member Cherie Kidd opposed and Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton absent, approved loaning Harbor-Works $500,000 from its economic development fund Tuesday.
Kidd did not explain why she voted no, but she did express concern over allocating the funding through 2010 all at once.
The Port of Port Angeles commission approved a loan of the same amount to the public development authority Aug. 10.
The funding is intended to determine how feasible it would be to redevelop Rayonier’s 75-acre former mill site on the east end of Port Angeles Harbor, which has been a state Department of Ecology cleanup site since 2000.
“We reduce the risks by determining what the costs of remediation are,” said Harbor-Works Executive Director Jeff Lincoln, when explaining the due diligence process to the council.
That involves environmental and market analyses, as well as the costs of legal and tribal consultants.
The money is not intended to be used for acquisition of the property or for redevelopment, Lincoln said.
Won’t be back
Lincoln, answering a question from City Council member Dan Di Guilio, said he would not need to come back to the council for more funding unless the city wanted to be part of planning for redevelopment.
He said he will seek private investment to cover those costs and possible state and federal dollars.
The port and city each loaned Harbor-Works $150,000 in August 2008, which was about three months after the city created it with support from the port in May 2008.
Of that original allotment, about $104,000 was left in Harbor-Works’ coffers a month ago.
Criticism
The City Council’s decision drew criticism from eight people who came to speak against the funding. They cited citywide budget issues and said they wanted confidence that the money won’t be wasted.
One resident, Janet Marx, presented a petition with 14 signatures protesting the decision but didn’t expand on why she is opposed.
“Such further funding would be unwise,” another resident, Mary Alice Bolter, told the council.
“I think we need a lot more accountability before we commit some more of our money that is in short supply these days.”
Dick Pilling, who lives outside the city but owns a business within city limits, spoke in favor of the funding for Harbor-Works.
Make site productive
“It’s imperative that we move forward to make the Rayonier site productive once again,” he said. “I’m, for one, tired of watching that real estate lay fallow.”
Several council members also voiced support for Harbor-Works.
City Council member Karen Rogers said the purpose of the public development authority is to answer the unknowns in relation to what can be done with the property.
“It gets those answers for the city, it creates a plan, and it creates it so that it happens with accountability and results.”
Lincoln told the council that an archaeological assessment will have to be done prior to redevelopment.
The property is the former location of a Lower Elwha Klallam village as well as the Puget Sound Cooperative Colony. The tribe is a partner in the cleanup with Ecology and Rayonier.
The loans are expected to be paid back through redevelopment of the former mill site.
The property is contaminated with PCBs, dioxins and other toxic chemicals emitted by a Rayonier pulp mill that operated for 68 years there before closing in 1997. The federal Environmental Protection Agency judged the site 2 or 3 on a scale of 10 for contamination when it decided not to classify it as a Superfund site in 1999.
Rayonier would still be liable for cleanup if Harbor-Works acquires the property, but to what extent may be dependent on negotiations between the company and the public development authority.
Harbor-Works also would become liable as a property owner.
Lincoln and local leaders have maintained that no city or port funds will be spent on cleanup.
Along with redeveloping, the city also intends to use a 5-million-gallon tank on the property for resolving its combined sewer overflow problem.
Upon acquisition, the tank would store untreated sewage and storm water that would otherwise spill into the harbor during and following heavy rainfall.
Rayonier executives have said they won’t transfer the tank to the city unless it occurs at the same time Harbor-Works acquires the rest of the property.
Di Guilio told the audience that it would cost the city more to obtain the tank through eminent domain than to provide the $500,000 loan.
“If I look at the bigger picture, I see that this is the most economically way to obtain the tank, complete the CSO project and get Rayonier cleaned up,” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
