PDA

View Full Version : Vancouver Port Commission Approves Purchase of Industrial Properties


Chief
12-11-2007, 02:35 PM
December 11, 2007

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The Port of Vancouver USA today addressed a need for more industrial land, and rail construction, that will aide its customers and tenants in the ability to expand.

The commission today voted to authorize Executive Director Larry Paulson to sign purchase and sale agreements for the vacant Alcoa Aluminum and Evergreen Aluminum, LLC properties. It is widely believed within the port industry that the parcels are among very few remaining industrial properties with deep-water access on the West Coast.

The land acquisitions were two of 11 action items considered by the Commission today.

The port needs at least a portion of the Alcoa and Evergreen properties to build the West Vancouver Freight Access project that will provide access to trains as long as 100-110 cars, and allow for movement, storage and assembly & disassembly of those trains. The remaining property is expected to be developed as a marine terminal.

The port is currently nearly 100 percent occupied with very little room for growth. The shovel-ready industrial property will also allow the port to attract new marine and industrial customers and will allow more rapid development for those customers. This, in turn, would allow for an earlier source of revenue for the port from those customers.

Alcoa Evergreen will be responsible for cleaning the property to industrial standards, which means the port's purchase of Alcoa/Evergreen is the best possible outcome for the community, as it will accelerate the cleanup of a site that has been contaminated and vacant for years, all funded by the current owners of the property – who are motivated to get the contamination cleaned up in order to close the sale.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has received its marching orders from the governor to ensure this site is thoroughly cleaned in an expedited manner, and appropriately cared for in the future. Brownfield sites require ongoing caretaking and monitoring. This will be the responsibility of any future owner, regardless of whether it’s publicly- or privately-held, and as such, the port will assume the responsibility for ongoing monitoring.

In preparing for the purchase, the port has done a thorough analysis of the Alcoa site and will conduct a detailed due diligence on the Evergreen site. The port is aware of the contamination that is currently on the site and is working with the current owners and Ecology to ensure the public’s interests are addressed in the transfer of property.

Other action taken by the Vancouver Port Commission today includes:

Approved an amendment to the port’s 2008-2017 Strategic Plan
Approved a lease in Building 2100 with Burgener’s Woodworking, which needed industrial space appropriate for expansion of its operations.
Approved a lease amendment with Manufacturers Supply, Inc.
Approved a construction lease for BNSF Railway Company.
Approved an action to provide rail project rights for development of the West Vancouver Freight Access Project.
Approved a contract awarded to Rotschy, Inc. of Yacolt, Wash., for construction of Schedule 1A of the West Vancouver Freight Access Project.
Approved a public works contract with JS & S Excavation for early grading and fill of a parcel of port property on the Rufener property.
Approved a public works contract with Five Rivers Construction for the installation of a new concrete floor in the port’s Building 2401, occupied by IMS Electronics Recycling.
Approved the extension of active personal services contracts.
Approved a resolution recognizing 18 years of service by outgoing Port Commissioner Arch Miller.

The Port of Vancouver USA, created by Clark County taxpayers in 1912, is one of the major ports on the Pacific Coast. Its competitive strengths include available land, versatile cargo handling capabilities, vast transportation networks, a dependable labor force and an exceptional level of service to its customers and community.

– POV –

Contact: Nelson Holmberg

(360) 992-1107 – direct

(360) 518-2553 – mobile

email: nholmberg@PortVanUSA.com

Chief
12-11-2007, 02:41 PM
Here is the Powerpoint presentation that Staff presented with today's enormous agenda. Lots of statistics, facts and figures that will come in handy early next year. This is in Adobe Acrobat format so you can zoom in on it...

<a href="http://www.clarkblog.org/PORT/BOC_121107.pdf">Powerpoint Presentation to the Board of Commissioners Meeting
December 11, 2007</a>

Chief
12-11-2007, 04:35 PM
Some thoughts about specific items from today's agenda at the Port.

1. I cannot stress enough how important it is for anyone who has an interest in the environmental cleanup at the Alcoa and Evergreen sites, to watch the presentation today on CVTV. They went through the powerpoint presentation point by point and explained everything that has happened, is happening now, and will happen in the future. This is a very, very complicated real estate transaction that defies simple explanations, and I caution you to look into this yourself, instead of relying on anyone's translations of it.

2. It is clear that there is wide agreement on the solutions to the contamination problems that have been identified to date, and the Washington State Department of Ecology has been deeply involved with this process since the 1980's. I am convinced that the Port of Vancouver has done everything that is in their power to identify every known contamination site on the properties, and there are many of them, all with different sets of circumstances, levels of cleanup, and the known condition of existing caps.

3. The Commissioners and Dept. of Ecology both stressed today that the 2 properties are going to be cleaned to a long standing "Industrial Standard" of cleanliness, that will enable the Port of Vancouver to return those properties back to useful, productive, and income producing use as quickly as possible. They also stressed that those 2 properties are unsuitable for anything other than Industrial use; and even if someone wanted to purchase the site to build condos, as some have suggested, the Washington State Department of Ecology would never allow such a deal to close, and they have absolute authority to do just that. In any case, it could easily be a year and a half before the Port closes on the Evergreen Aluminum site, contingent upon many, many things that have to happen between now and then, and the Port can still walk away if they are not satisfied that the site is clean.

4. The rail access project is finally kicking into high gear with the award of the contract for Phase 1A. That's going to do the initial work to rebuild the access for Albina and one other tenant, and begin the new pas down under the railroad bridge so it can eventually be built into the Alcoa/Evergreen properties. Phases 1B and 1C will be the actual work along the back edge of the Boise Cascade property, and the actual tie-in to the East-West mainline. I'm excited to see this finally get started and I'll be following it as closely as I can as the project unfolds. Next year will see a bunch of significant construction.

5. Speaking of construction, Director of Engineering Curtis Shrunk mentioned that he's seeing a bunch of vendors bidding on the Port's many construction projects, and as a result, they are getting some very competitive bids. Case in point is the installation of the reinforced floor for building 2401. They had a bunch of bids, and the lowest one was significantly less than they had projected it might be. That's good news, and money saved through an excellent bidding process.

6. The other item is the filling that is going to begin on Parcel 8 on the Northern side of the Reufner property. The Port has fill accumulated on Parcel 3, (how in hell do they keep these numbers straight??!!) from dredging operations, and will be moving about 180,000 cubic yards of that material to Parcel 8 to begin the process of bringing that whole area up above the 100 year flood plain. That will be an ongoing process over the next several years under "Pay as we Grow", and I wanted to note the beginning of that process.

7. Be sure to scroll through the powerpoint presentation, and take a look at the statistics, and list of things that have changed at the Port of Vancouver under Arch Miller's tenure as Commissioner. The sheer volume of increases is amazing, as is the transformation of the Port from being almost non-functional, to the thriving entity that it is today, (despite the many rumors to the contrary).

8. I asked, and was told that Commissioner Elect Oliver did not participate in any way with the preparation of the new Strategic Vision for the Port, the 2008 Budget process, nor did he seek a briefing on any of the issues that were discussed today about the purchase of the Alcoa/Evergreen properties. I understand that he met with the Department Heads, and was briefed on what their duties consist of, but made no enquiries into any of the many long-term projects the Port has underway from the engineering plans for the rail access project, to the Environmental monitoring that the Port has been conducting for years on literally hundreds of groundwater wells all over lower Vancouver.

I am troubled about all of #8, because it tells me Commissioner Oliver is not going to have a smooth transition, quite the contrary, I think he's in for a steep learning curve, along with a sip of water out of a firehose. I understand that the Commissioners each received a paper box filled with documents to read, review, and prep for all for the staff work that went on long before the Public meetings ever convened. We will see soon enough if Oliver is up for the job, but he sure had a deer in the headlights look on his face today...

One door closes, and another one opens. Today was an important day for the Port, and we have the promise of some very big things coming for next year. It should be pretty exciting to watch all of this come together over the next 12 months or so...

;D

Waterbuffalo
12-11-2007, 05:49 PM
Thanks for posting the PDF file..I'll take a look later. Should you note that I love seriously insane number fiddling.. :-0

Chief
12-12-2007, 06:58 AM
Then that powerpoint presentation will fascinate you for a while...there's a lot of data in there, so have fun!!

Waterbuffalo
12-12-2007, 11:20 AM
Nah, Richard has me on autopilot looking for data too. Will try and relook again at the pdf when I have a moment.

The holidays are keeping me busy and packing things just simply don't have a lot of time.