MARYSVILLE – Someday, city leaders in Marysville hope people will be better able to enjoy the waterfront on Ebey Slough, in part by walking on trails along the dike.
To that end, the city just signed a $2.2 million agreement to buy the International Forest Products mill and its 10-acre property, which is close to the slough and Highway 529.
The Canadian company shut down the mill for financial reasons in December.
Another company, Columbia Investments in Portland, Ore., is interested in buying the mill and wants to make a deal with the city that would both resurrect the mill and still keep the city’s long-term waterfront plans intact.
Paul Bialkowsky of Columbia Investments asked the City Council on Monday night to consider allowing the company to run the mill there for two or three years. That would give the company time to develop a new mill site elsewhere in town without losing the trained workforce, he said.
“Our desire is to move fairly quickly while those key (mill) employees are still in the area,” Bialkowsky said.
Meanwhile, the city could work on its plans for the property, he said.
However, the city passed on that proposal because it needs the property right away, said Mary Swenson, city administrator.
The mill “is right next to our public works facility, and we’re continuing to grow as we annex,” Swenson said. “As we grow, that operation needs to expand. It’s just logical to utilize that property.”
The public works building already has a modular addition, and parking is becoming an issue as new employees are hired to handle the city’s growth.
Future annexations could boost the city’s population from about 32,000 now to more than 45,000 in the next 18 months, Swenson said.
At one point, Columbia Investments had reached a tentative deal with Interfor to buy the mill, Bialkowsky said. But that was scuttled when the city told Interfor that it might resort to eminent domain and condemn the property for the city’s use, Bialkowsky said.
Eminent domain allows governments to acquire land through condemnation, with compensation, if it is for public use.
Swenson confirmed the city did talk about eminent domain regarding the mill site.
Beyond the facility needs for the site, its waterfront access makes it critical to plans to develop a trail from the new Ebey Waterfront Park, west of Highway 529, all the way southeast along the dike, possibly to the Sunnyside neighborhood, Swenson said.
The city is working on plans to annex the Sunnyside area.
“Getting that trail will spur, hopefully, more development in the downtown,” Swenson said.
Barring any last-minute environmental problems found in soil tests, the sale will be made official March 31, Swenson said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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