PORT ANGELES — The former KPly mill site, on the cusp of final pollution cleanup, would see new life as an edge-of-downtown marine trades industrial park for yachts and other large ships under plans that were given a first run-through Monday by Port of Port Angeles commissioners.
The industrial park could cost $8.2 million to develop by 2018, according to long-range port budget estimates.
To that end, an estimated 52,000 tons of earth laden with benzene, dioxins and other pollutants have been removed from the excavated, 18-acre Marine Drive site, located about three blocks from the Richard B. Anderson Federal Building.
Backfill and grading
After being backfilled and graded later this year, the parcel will be made ready for an anchor tenant, multiple work-pad or lease sites, and a wash-down facility, according to the port’s request for qualifications to plan the development and oversee the project.
Reid Middleton Inc., an Everett-based engineering consultant firm, was chosen for the task.
Multiple phases
Phase 1 of the project’s four phases was outlined to the commissioners Monday by Reid Middleton Project Manager Wendell Johnson and Economic Consultant Paul Sorensen of Kenmore-based BST Associates.
For an estimated $100,000, the company will develop a marine trade industrial site plan.
Of the total, $50,000 is port money and $50,000 is a state Community Economic and Revitalization Board grant that was awarded to the port March 18.
In Phase 1, the company will conduct workshops with port tenants, potential tenants, port staff and stakeholders.
Estimates presented by Johnson and Sorensen include $47,800 for gathering background information and mapping, $3,000 to develop an interview format for prospective tenants, and $10,000 to meet with prospective tenants for two days.
“That’s higher than I would have anticipated,” McAleer said of the two meetings.
“I want your job,” Port Commissioner Steve Burke told Johnson and Sorensen.
Sorensen said the company would be talking to “a whole lot of [port] operators” in a process that will include on-site visits and might not total $10,000.
“My vision of this exercise is really getting a detailed analysis,” Sorensen said, adding that commissioners will learn “how much it will cost you, how much grant money you might be able to expect, what can you afford to look at.”
Burke said it was frustrating to spend $100,000 “and we don’t have much on paper at the end of it.”
Under Phase 2, estimated to cost $133,000, Reid Middleton will conduct technical studies focusing on stormwater, parking, traffic and surveying that would be needed to support the site design.
Phase 2 also will include preliminary design and estimated construction costs and a construction schedule.
The parcel is zoned heavy marine-industrial and has direct access to port marine terminals and a 500-ton travel lift pier.
“Building on an earlier study, we are really focusing on large boats for our travel lift pier,” Port Interim Director Karen Goschen said.
She said the intention was to first seek Port Angeles-area tenants for the site before going outside Clallam County.
“The goal is expansion, not just moving chairs around,” she added in a later interview.
Phase 1 is included in a five-year port capital improvement program.
It allocates $250,000 to the industrial park effort this year and estimates allocations of $5 million in 2017 and $3 million in 2018.
Chris Hartman, the port’s director of engineering, said in a later interview Monday that the capital improvement program estimates are not set in stone.
“These are high-level planning numbers,” he said.
“There’s no design work behind it.”
Hartman estimated the Phase 1-stage that port commissioners discussed Monday would last from about April through October.
“In all likelihood, we could be doing physical construction in 2017 at the earliest and likely 2018,” he said.
Hartman said port development of facilities would require a commitment from an anchor tenant before construction can begin.
McAleer said after the meeting that she was glad to see the industrial park moving forward.
“The commissioners were concerned about cost, and I think that was relayed today,” she said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
