Port of Ridgefield Seeks Comment on Project

By LAURA M C VICKER

RIDGEFIELD – As early as next year, crews could break ground on a 40-acre Port of Ridgefield waterfront project to include restaurants, a hotel, a marina and boat launch, walking trails, and an amphitheater.

A Washington State University Vancouver environmental science center also is in the cards.

Port of Ridgefield commissioners are seeking public comment on this plan and will host an open house Wednesday. The second since last fall, the open house will include discussion of possible ways to pay for the project, potential developers and ways to make the project economically viable, said Michael Williams, the Port of Ridgefield’s marketing and communications manager.

Feedback from Ridgefield residents and business owners will determine much of the outcome for the land off Lake River. The vision is a site “that honors our past while looking toward the future,” and one that serves as an economic engine for the town, he said.

“(The goal) is to bring jobs to Ridgefield,” he said. “We think it would be a destination site, a place where merchants could have a place to flourish. That would complement the community.”

Plans are strictly in the design phase, and commissioners haven’t yet recruited retailers. No completion date is set, but Williams said crews could be “shovel ready” next spring.

Brent Grening, executive director of the port, will give two presentations at the Ridgefield Community Center – one at 4:30 p.m. and another identical meeting at 6 p.m.

Contaminated site

Since 2001, commissioners have envisioned a mixed-use development project. But they’ve been stalled by a $40 million cleanup effort at the former Pacific Wood Treating plant site, which used to shape and bake toxic creosote and arsenic into wood to preserve it, inadvertently contaminating the earth from 1963 to 1993.

That cleanup project is nearly complete.

In their master plan, commissioners proposed a revamped public boat launch with a marina rental, boat and recreation vehicle rental spaces, and a waterfront access trail. Single and multistory office buildings, retail shops, restaurants, and an industrial strip are also envisioned.

Last fall, WSUV joined the master plan with a proposed environmental research center, which could examine water purity; aquatic life relations; atmospheric sciences; and questions of toxicology, biology and erosion. There’s no firm plan for the building and no money to build the first portion of the center.

Artist Maya Lin, known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., is expected to design the center.

If you go

What: Port of Ridgefield’s open house about Lake River development.

When: Two presentations: 4:30 and 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Ridgefield Community Center, 210 N. Main Ave.

Information: Port of Ridgefield, 360-887-3873.

Laura McVicker can be reached at 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com

Originally published by LAURA M C VICKER Columbian staff writer.

(c) 2008 Columbian. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.