EVERETT — The Port of Everett may use eminent domain to acquire the former Kimberly-Clark mill site.
The port’s three-member commission voted unanimously last week to start the process.
A public hearing is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 4 at the port’s headquarters as a formality before being able to take legal action for condemnation.
The port’s been interested in the 66-acre waterfront property since 2012 when the mill was slated for closure. The public taxing agency is one of two of the site’s suitors. The other is a joint effort between maritime company Pacific Stevedoring and an undisclosed partner.
In 2016, the commission approved a resolution to acquire the property by “any means necessary.”
The port’s negotiations have been unsuccessful, leading to this step, according to documentation. The port has a purchase and sale agreement with Kimberly-Clark.
Kimberly-Clark gave a prepared press statement in response to the news.
“Our long-standing focus remains on helping the next generation of jobs to return to the site. However, Kimberly-Clark is not able to comment on any potential decisions by the Port or any other negotiations regarding the site,” Kimberly-Clark said via spokesman Terry Balluck.
Both parties want to use the site’s deepwater port for ship work.
Pacific Stevedoring’s plan is to turn the site into a maritime hub. The company has leased about 20 acres of the property from Kimberly-Clark since 2017. The lease includes an option to buy, according to a public affairs representative for the company earlier this year.
The site sits on contaminated ground. In March, Kimberly-Clark agreed to a state order to further clean up the site by removing about 120,000 cubic yards of crushed material — primarily brick, concrete and masonry from demolished mill buildings — that was used as fill after an initial cleanup in 2013.
City purchasing some land
The city plans to buy an 8.5 acre piece of the mill site where some city stormwater outfall pipes lie.
The City Council is being asked to approve the $4.7 million purchase from Kimberly-Clark this week. The purchase can open up public access, the city says.
The move is prompted by stricter regulations coming in 2027 from Ecology. In a city memo, the public works director wrote that buying the property will ensure the city can avoid falling out of compliance.
As part of the deal, the city would dismiss its five-year-old lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark over land preparation, pending that the site is cleaned up. The lawsuit went dormant in 2016.
History
Once a Scott Paper plant, Kimberly-Clark closed the pulp and paper mill in 2012 as part of a company consolidation, erasing 650 jobs.
A smaller mill company walked from a purchase agreement to restart operations because it couldn’t come to an agreement with Kimberly-Clark. The mill buildings were then demolished.
A subsidiary of Foss Maritime called Saltchuk Resources was the second suitor; it wanted to relocate the Foss shipyard in Seattle to here. That purchase deal died in 2014 because of disagreements on who’d pay for certain seismic retrofits and environmental cleanup, Saltchuk said at the time.
During 2012, the city enveloped the site as a special zoning area. It set clean up parameters that, if followed, could let the site turn into a waterfront residential area in its long-term future.
In 2014, the city of Everett sued because the company didn’t meet the city’s conditional permit requirements to use fresh topsoil and lay down a layer of grass. Kimberly-Clark used crushed demolition rubble, and countered that the site would likely be repurposed as an industrial use that wouldn’t require such a stringent clean up.
In November the company requested a permit to remove the crushed concrete debris.
Port public meeting
The meeting will be 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4 in the Port Commission room at 1205 Craftsman Way, Suite 200.
