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Vancouver port approves plans for large industrial site

Resolution raises possibility for it to sell additional lots

By Aaron Corvin, Columbian Port & Economy Reporter
Published: December 10, 2014, 12:00am

The Port of Vancouver on Tuesday approved a resolution that raises the possibility it will sell more industrial lots to prospective employers, sparking criticism that it’s unnecessarily preparing to unload public assets.

The resolution, approved by the port’s Board of Commissioners on a 2-1 vote, makes several changes to the port’s big-picture plan for making land and building improvements. Those changes include declaring five lots at the port’s Centennial Industrial Park as surplus land and no longer needed for the port’s purposes. All five lots are located at the 58-acre, shovel-ready portion of the 108-acre Centennial property, southeast of Vancouver Lake.

The port typically leases, rather than sells, land. But it has sold land in the past. It’s also marketed Centennial lots for lease or sale. And it’s already agreed to sell one of the five lots, 9.6 acres, to Maruichi Northwest, which wants to build a tubing mill employing up to 50 people.

Still, the resolution prompted criticism during Tuesday’s public hearing, including from Ronald Morrison, a Hazel Dell resident and chairman of the Clark County Natural Resources Council.

Morrison said that securing leases — sources of long-term revenue — would have a greater public benefit than selling the Centennial lots for short-term gains. “These are properties that are part of the public trust,” he said.

The port’s CEO, Todd Coleman, said the risk of outright refusing to sell the lots is the loss of the 58-acre parcel’s job-creation potential: an estimated 350 jobs, which includes the 50 positions connected to the Maruichi project.

Responding to Coleman’s remark, Commissioner Brian Wolfe, who cast the lone “no” vote on the resolution, said Morrison wasn’t aware of a potential 350 jobs because there’s no mention of it in the resolution and related documents.

Commissioners Jerry Oliver and Nancy Baker both voted “yes” on the resolution. While he has reservations about selling port property, Oliver said the resolution only formally opens the possibility of additional land sales at the Centennial site. Those sales aren’t a done deal, he said. And the port has long indicated it would sell or lease lots at the Centennial property, Oliver said, so “we haven’t been sailing under false colors.”

Morrison was joined in his objection to the resolution by Cager Clabaugh, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 4 in Vancouver. Clabaugh said the local Longshore union opposes selling public property to private industry.

Morrison also questioned the resolution on other grounds. Noting he’s attended the port’s meetings about its 2015 budget, he said the port wants to sell two Centennial parcels to fill a $2.6 million gap in its budget. That amounts to selling long-term public assets “to solve a short-term budget squeeze,” Morrison said.

Abbi Russell, a spokeswoman for the port, said Morrison is incorrect. She added that the port’s 2015 budgeted amount for proceeds from the sale of Centennial property is $6.27 million.

Excluding the lot being sold to Maruichi, the other four Centennial lots total about 21 acres. In addition to declaring all five lots as surplus land, the adopted resolution states the port’s intention to design and construct a 100,000-square-foot building at the 58-acre portion of the 108-acre Centennial site.

The resolution also addresses the other portion of the Centennial site: a 50-acre parcel that lacks infrastructure. The resolution says the port will establish the 50 acres as a new light industrial park.

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Columbian Port & Economy Reporter