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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Washougal plans park, natural habitat

City, county buying piece of land from contractor

By , Columbian Small Cities Reporter
Published:

The vacant former headquarters of a once-bustling contracting business in Washougal will soon become home to a new park.

Clark County and the city of Washougal are each pitching in $299,500 to purchase the land where the former headquarters of George Schmid & Sons Inc. once stood on the west side of 32nd Street. The excavation contractor demolished its facilities on the property four years ago, transitioning into a home-based business after dozens of employees were laid off.

At the time, the family intended to sell the heavy industrial area to developers who planned to use the land for a new subdivision and a small commercial area. The lower floodplain portion of the family’s 17-acre property would have become home to a new stormwater facility.

Instead, county and city officials have worked out a deal with the Schmid family to purchase the land and develop a new 5-acre park. The remaining 12 acres will be preserved as natural habitat next to the Washougal River, said Don Benton, Clark County’s environmental services director and a state senator.

“It’s really the last spot of undeveloped land of any significant size — larger than 3 acres or 5 acres — on the lower Washougal (River),” Benton said. “So, it makes it a really, really special place.”

The Schmid family still owns a portion of the land on the east side of 32nd Street, where other development plans are in the works, Benton said. The sale of the company’s former headquarters should close in June of next year, and so far there is no timeline for when development will begin.

The land will be owned and managed by the city of Washougal, which is using park impact fees to cover its portion of the purchase. Acquiring the property fulfills a need for an additional park in Washougal’s master plan, Benton said.

The city will also take the reins on converting the land into a park, but designs haven’t been prepared. Officials say the park could include picnic tables, playground equipment, a parking area and viewpoints of the river. A trail system will also likely run through the lower 12 acres to the river, Benton said.

“This is going to be an unbelievably gorgeous location for residents to visit, 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now, and be able to enjoy that lower Washougal River,” he said.

In all, most of the land remains in good condition, Benton said, though there may need to be some work on salmon habitat restoration and oil cleanup.

“There’s one little area where it’ll require a little bit of cleanup, because they worked on trucks there and there may be some oil or something,” he said. “But it’s not like a Superfund cleanup site or anything.”

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Columbian Small Cities Reporter