Vancouver and Clark County

[CouvScott]

City not wavering on Boise ambitions

Tuesday, May 2, 2006
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer Advertisement


A potentially huge bill for roads and other improvements isn't enough to deter Vancouver officials from pursuing their waterfront dream.

City council members showed no signs of political retreat Monday after hearing a preliminary list of projects to improve access to Boise Cascade's property along the Columbia River.

Vancouver wants to build on its success in revitalizing downtown and allow that momentum to spill south to the waterfront.

"We have an opportunity to do something that has never been done before," Mayor Royce Pollard said toward the end of a two-hour meeting between the city council and Port of Vancouver commissioners. "I don't know what it is yet. But if you like Esther Short Park, you're absolutely going to love what happens here."

City officials envision a thriving waterfront with 3,000 condominiums, 125,000 square feet of retail space, 250,000 square feet of office space, 200 hotel rooms and an esplanade running along the shoreline.

"This is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Councilwoman Jeanne Harris said.

How much it will cost to achieve that opportunity isn't known. Boise is in the process of analyzing an undisclosed number of offers to purchase its 29 acres of underused industrial land. City officials are planning for a waterfront district that will generate more than 20,000 car trips a day.

"We've got a big vision," Councilman Tim Leavitt said. "We have a lot of work ahead of us. We're looking at hundreds of millions of dollars of improvements."

That was the closest anyone came Monday to putting a price tag on the projects. City officials distributed a spreadsheet showing more than two dozen projects to be built over the next 13 years, but not a single one included a specific cost.

Officials hope to tap a variety of sources state, federal, city, port and private to pay for the projects.

Vancouver has long envisioned punching Esther Street south through the railroad berm to provide more access to the waterfront.

Other transportation projects being studied include:

* Upgrading Jefferson Street and extending the road diagonally across The Columbian's property, roughly parallel to the BNSF railroad, to an improved intersection at Sixth and Grant streets and into the waterfront district.

* Rebuilding the existing railroad trestle to provide almost 18 feet of clearance over Sixth Street so vehicular traffic can pass freely underneath.

* Constructing a new rail line along Seventh Street that would peel off the BNSF tracks and head west under the existing railroad bridge over the Columbia River.

That last project, designed to provide rail access to the port's Columbia Gateway maritime-industrial project, would cost an estimated $55 million, including improvements to the port's internal rail network.

Councilman Larry Smith said the potential for big bills must not deter Vancouver from achieving its waterfront vision.

"Even though it's going to be tough and difficult, it can be done if you stay committed," he said.