By SHANNON HAUGLAND
and ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writers
The Gary Paxton Industrial Park board agreed Monday to transfer GPIP Lot 17 to the city as the first step in the city’s plan to build a filtration plant for a secondary water supply for the community.
The secondary water supply would come from an intake on Sawmill Creek below the Blue Lake dam, and would be used at times when the Blue Lake source is shut down or during turbidity events to help maintain the city’s filtration avoidance waiver.
The Assembly has approved an $18 million project to build a granular filtration plant, and the department of public works has recommended a site on GPIP Lots 17 and 18, and 7,496 square feet of the adjacent access and utility easement for the project. The park board transferred Lot 18 to the city in 2012 for the UV water treatment plant, and deposited the $65,000 received from the city into the GPIP enterprise fund.
The city is requesting the transfer of Lot 17, appraised at $113,000, at no cost to the city.
The city owns the park land that has not been sold into private hands, but the park is theoretically an enterprise fund, intended to be self supporting with the income generated by land leases.
Some of the talk at the meeting concerned whether the city should pay GPIP for the land, and whether it made sense to be transferring Lot 17, when the park board has other plans for the land.
But in the end the board voted 4-0 to support the transfer of the land for the project, with the question of whether the city should pay left undecided.
Gary Paxton Industrial Park. An arrow points to Lot 17. (Map provided)
Present for the meeting were board members Sheila Finkenbinder, Vaughn Morrison, Rob Parrish and Scott Wagner.
As to whether the city should be paying GPIP for Lot 17, Harmon said Thursday he believes it’s in the best interest of the Water Fund for the land to be transferred for no money. Otherwise, the costs would be added to the water rates customers pay on their monthly utility bills.
“I’m tasked with trying to keep the rates as low as possible for the customers,” he said. “The best way to keep the cost low is for the plant to be built on city land and not to pay for city property. That’s the way I’m thinking of it.”
Ultimately, Harmon said, it’s the Assembly’s call to decide what’s in the best interest of the Water Fund, ratepayers and the GPIP enterprise fund.
Assembly liaison Kevin Mosher said at the meeting he would prefer to transfer the land, instead of paying for it, in the interest of keeping rates low.
An ordinance to transfer the land will be up on introduction at the July 23 Assembly meeting.
Also at the meeting, among other business, the board elected Wagner as chairman and Morrison as vice chair and heard updates on ongoing projects. There is currently one seat open on board.
Updates
The board also received updates from White on ongoing projects:
– The new dock at the park has been busy. Executive Director Garry White is continuing to keep an eye on port tariffs and investigate how users can pay for electricity.
– Delta Western received a build permit for a fueling operation on the dock. Plans call for locating fuel tanks on the uplands.
– work continues to develop an access ramp and marine services sector at the park. The board has approved a priorities list for expanding from the existing barge haulout, and has hired engineers for a detailed analysis of the phased development of the haul-out facilities. The need for the haulout has become more urgent as Halibut Point Marine may be reducing its haulout business in the next few years as cruise ship docking business increases, the board was told. Assembly member Richard Wein commented a haulout should be a top priority for the city.
– White said he continues to receive inquires about opportunities for a bottled water plant, and has had discussions last month with companies from China and Costa Rica.
– the administration building was sold last month to Pat Barker Jr. for $20,000.
– White and the city attorney met with outside counsel on contract details for Hanson Maritime to purchase the old utility dock at the park. The item may be on the Assembly agenda at its July 23 meeting, White said.
