The Port of Camas-Washougal voted Tuesday to end its 40-year relationship with Camas-based Knapp O’Dell & MacPherson in favor of a Tacoma law firm.
The port’s failed deal for the proposed $350 million RiverWalk mixed-use development on the Columbia River waterfront was among several reasons given for a unanimous decision by the three-member board to reject a proposal for services from longtime port attorney Shawn MacPherson of Knapp O’Dell & MacPherson. The board instead hired Tacoma-based Goodstein Law Group, which offered a more in-depth range of services, according to port officials.
Goodstein’s team of attorneys has environmental law experience dealing with federal agencies, said Mark Lampton, a port commissioner since January. That could help the Washougal-based port with its plans to develop a 165-acre parcel wedged on the east of its existing industrial park and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic area.
“It sits between our current industrial park and the Steigerwald Wildlife Reserve, so it’s a very sensitive area,” Lampton said.
Still, “The entire RiverWalk process left a lot of concerns,” said Bill Ward, one of three elected commissioners who has replaced the 2006 board members responsible for cutting the deal with the RiverWalk development group, RiverWalk on the Columbia LLC. “The general public consensus is that the (former) commission did not act as though it had been well counseled from a legal standpoint,” he added, referring to the commission’s decision to sign the contract.
And yet, according to Ward, port commissioners at the Tuesday night meeting did not discuss a loss of confidence in Knapp O’Dell & MacPherson as reason for selecting a new port attorney.
“There was no need to mention it specifically. We just discussed the fact that we need to rethink our legal representation,” he said.
The third commissioner, Bill Macrae-Smith, said his decision to vote for a change had nothing to do with RiverWalk. It was “based on the port’s needs going forward.”
MacPherson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The Port of Camas-Washougal last month dropped a legal attempt to recover the fees it incurred defending itself against a $19.5 million lawsuit that was brought by RiverWalk on the Columbia LLC after the port dropped the project.
