On paper, the 41-acre Miller’s Landing site might sound like a developer’s dream. Located about three miles from Interstate 5, it abuts a river, a lake and the Ridgefield National Wildlife refuge. Just across the train tracks that border the property lies Ridgefield’s picturesque downtown. But when port officials began planning clean-up of the site, they inherited decades of pollution. Pacific Wood Treating, the property’s previous owner, had declared bankruptcy and was unable to remediate the damage.
The port was left with more than $70 million worth of clean-up to conduct – a tab it’s paid with the financial help of Washington’s Department of Ecology. That funding paid to remove 24,800 gallons of liquid contamination, 1.5 million pounds of contaminated sludge and pollution that had affected a million gallons of groundwater.
In October, Ecology formally approved the completion of environmental clean-up, setting the stage for commercial development of the property – although there’s still more work to do before businesses move in, Grening said.
Despite the agreement with the Department of Ecology, “We do have some sediment dredging work in Lake River and Carty Lake that needs to be completed next year, as well as some confirmation soil sampling in a neighborhood adjacent to the site,” he said.
In addition, the port wants to complete the Pioneer Street rail overpass before building out the Miller’s Landing site. Currently, pedestrians and cars must use an at-grade rail crossing to get to the waterfront, which means they sometimes have to wait for trains to pass before they can proceed. The port is still working to raise funds to complete the overpass, and expects to begin work on the next stage in 2014.
While planning and fundraising proceeds, the trail and waterfront access will still be open to the public. Once the overpass is in place, the port’s preliminary plans would reserve about six acres of open space along the water.
“The remainder of the site will be a mixed-use waterfront with a retail component, maybe hotels, restaurants, that type of thing – this is the vision, anyway,” Grening said. “We’d like to see some office or professional uses coming in over time, bringing in more jobs.”
He expects it will take three to five years to start that level of commercial development. The port hopes to work with developers to determine just how the site will come together, and Grening said that the property’s ultimate future will depend on market demand.
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