EVERETT — Negotiations under way to move a business that auctions off wrecked cars into a new industrial park have angered north Everett residents, who say they don’t want a junkyard in their neighborhood.
"We’ve been arguing for years for access to that property, and our vision is not for a junkyard," Dave Mascarenes told Port of Everett commissioners on Tuesday.
Mascarenes was responding to a report from port property manager Bob McChesney on Tuesday that the port was negotiating with Insurance Auto Auction, a business on Highway 9 in the southern part of Snohomish County.
McChesney said the company, which acquires damaged vehicles from insurance companies and auctions them or sells the parts, is about to be displaced by the Brightwater sewage treatment plant.
While acknowledging that the business was different than what had been planned for the port’s Riverside Industrial Park, McChesney said an auction yard would be "a good interim use" for the property.
"It puts the property to work now while preserving the chance to redevelop it later," he said, noting that the business is seeking about 25 acres and wants a 30-year lease. The port, he added, believes a 15-year lease is more appropriate.
Port officials had high hopes for the industrial park, which is in north Everett on the Snohomish River, when the port acquired the property from the Weyerhaeuser Corp. It spent millions cleaning up the property and making it ready for tenants.
But efforts since 2000by a professional marketing company and the port itself have failed to produce any tenants, and the property has not been the moneymaker and job creator it was expected to be.
Port director John Mohr said the economy flagged at the same time the Boeing Co. was "dumping large amounts of industrial property on the marketplace at relatively low prices."
"For a variety of reasons, those takers aren’t there," he said. "We feel it’s important to use this property on an interim basis. I think when the 15 years go by, it will be a sure thing at that point" to attract tenants.
The company would pave all 25 acres to ensure that the ground isn’t polluted, and would landscape the area to screen off the wrecked cars, Mohr said.
"We want to remarket the property within the shortest possible time frame," Mohr added.
Mohr also noted Tuesday that he had joined with Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson in urging the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to allow construction of a track overpass for construction of a trail system along the river on the industrial property.
The trail would be an important segment of a pedestrian and bike walkway intended to connect the Centennial Trail in east and north Snohomish County with the Burke-Gilman trail in King County.
Everett resident John Lindstrom, an avid cyclist, thanked port officials for the effort.
"It’s been a dream of a lot of people," he said. "I wish you the best success."
But news that the port was moving to secure the long-sought public access to the area didn’t make all area residents happy.
Howie Bargreen suggested the port "reconsider its entire marketing."
"It should be a highly profitable area because of the waterfront," he said.
Mascarenes said the last thing visitors would want to see would be a junkyard.
"It might be better to leave it alone than to have a bunch of junk cars stacked up there," he said.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.
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