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RIDGEFIELD — As soon as a brownfield soaked with poisonous chemical compounds, Ridgefield’s waterfront is poised to once more grow to be an financial hub.
The Port of Ridgefield introduced in November that it has partnered with Palindrome Properties Group, a Portland agency with mixed-use growth initiatives in Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.
How has the port succeeded the place different environmental cleanup initiatives have foundered?
“A big part of that is the commitment to a vision and some stability and long-term presence of people on both sides,” mentioned Randy Mueller, government director for the Port of Ridgefield.
Mueller mentioned the port has additionally had an excellent relationship with the state Division of Ecology, which was key to the venture’s success, regardless of state companies solely being funded on two-year cycles.
“This was a 20-year project,” Mueller mentioned. “Some of this was essentially an unofficial commitment by the Department of Ecology and their leadership who knew this would take more than two years.”
The waterfront property lies alongside Lake River, which connects to Vancouver Lake to the south and the Columbia River to the north and is adjoining to downtown Ridgefield. Lake River passes via the Ridgefield Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, one of many metropolis’s main tourism drivers.
Plume of air pollution
The port started redevelopment potentialities in 2001 with the adoption of its Complete Scheme of Harbor Enhancements, a coverage and planning doc much like progress plans utilized by cities and counties.
Earlier than redevelopment may start, although, the port needed to undertake in depth cleanup.
Ridgefield Veneer Co. arrange store alongside Lake River in 1956. In 1963, it merged with Pacific Wooden Treating Corp., which pressure-treated phone poles and railroad ties with chemical brokers. The plant closed in 1993, leaving the soil tainted by pentachlorophenol, creosote and copper-chromium-arsenate.
Whereas some remediation started in 1995, work on the 30,000-gallon underground plume of chemical compounds wouldn’t start till 2006. In session with Ecology, the port selected a steam injection methodology to wash the soil to a depth of two toes. Together with eradicating contaminants, the port additionally changed the stormwater system and raised the location above the floodplain.
By 2022, the port was able to revisit its earlier public outreach efforts and conduct a brand new group survey.
“One of the things that we realized was that we needed to go back out to the community,” Mueller mentioned. “Ridgefield has grown so much that — even though we’ve done a lot of outreach — just a few years ago, half the town didn’t live here.”
The port’s 2022 group survey obtained responses from 1,300 folks, about 10 p.c of the town’s complete inhabitants. Mueller mentioned the town’s various group got here again with an equally various record of desires and wishes.
“Everyone wants something different,” he mentioned. “Some want more shopping. Some people want more dining. Other people want a bigger park, and some want more boat launch parking.”
Waterfront entry
However there was one key takeaway from the survey, Mueller mentioned, and that was the will for a waterfront park with public entry.
Work on the waterfront park is now continuing individually from the opposite waterfront growth efforts. The port and the town of Ridgefield are coordinating efforts to get wanted permits accepted. With that group enter in thoughts, the port subsequent targeted on making a marketing strategy. As soon as that was in place, the port issued a request for proposals from builders. Among the many makes use of to be thought-about have been recreation, industrial exercise, public areas, residential areas and lightweight industrial use.
The port’s imaginative and prescient is for a mixed-use growth, Mueller mentioned. One instance could be two-story buildings with retail and industrial area on the primary flooring and housing on the second flooring. Nonetheless, housing received’t be the primary driver for the event plan. Mueller mentioned the port’s mission is to drive job creation and financial exercise.
“The port’s relationship with residential development as a use is complicated,” Mueller mentioned. “On one hand, we get that if you want to have a successful development, residential does need to be a part of it. Every successful waterfront we’ve ever looked at, they all have some sort of residential piece to them.”
He mentioned it is also essential to do not forget that Palindrome’s proposal is simply that — a proposed plan, not the ultimate growth plan.
“Essentially, it’s us coming to terms on what they will build,” Mueller mentioned. “We really liked a lot of the elements in their plan — obviously, because we picked them — but of course, there are still things we need to work out.”
This contains the small print of what the port desires constructed, in addition to what the town, and sure the state, will subject permits for.
The port isn’t prepared to interrupt floor simply but. Mueller mentioned he expects the following two years to be spent on finalizing negotiations with Palindrome, creating an accepted growth plan and getting all wanted permits.
“You’ll really start to see a public process over the next two years where folks can comment on different pieces of it as they come forward,” he mentioned. “That will be the opportunity for them to chime in about the things they like and the things they don’t like.”