I talked to Mike from Mike's Meat before he moved. I told him that he would not believe the change in his business with a good location and good parking. His success blew him away and it was almost immediate.

Looking at DOT traffic stats the store's located on the busiest section of street in town

Visibility and parking, keys to businesses and absolutely lacking for most of the downtown corridor including the gas station he was located at before.

Citizen group has suggestions for the waterfront
Sunday, September 5, 2010 - 00:02
BY STEVEN FRIEDERICH

The Daily World

A community-driven report given to the Aberdeen Planning Commission says Weyerhaeuser's now unused waterfront properties offer the "greatest potential for growth" along the waterfront.

One option may be to rezone the land into a mixed use of commercial and industrial zoning. But the same report lists some hesitancy from the Weyerhaeuser Co. in doing any kind of rezoning.

"We think the best long-term opportunities for the land is for it to remain as an industrial site," Weyerhaeuser spokesman Anthony Chavez said on Friday. "We think that has a potential to attract a larger variety of investors, as opposed to a property that has a patchwork of zoning."

It'll ultimately be up to the Aberdeen Planning Commission and later the Aberdeen City Council to offer a vision for Aberdeen's waterfront. An update of the city's comprehensive plan is currently under way.

A committee made up of members of the Our Aberdeen community revitalization group has been meeting for the last few months to talk about the waterfront, inviting special guests from the Port, Weyerhaeuser and other stakeholders to join in the conversation.

Les Bolton, the executive director of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, wrote the final report submitted to the Planning Commission after receiving input from all the parties.

Besides talking about the Weyerhaeuser property, the report also brainstorms other ideas focusing on the four miles of South Abereen waterfront stretching from the south shore of the Chehalis River to the eastern city limits and the western city limits.

Ideas suggested:

* Create a link from the Dike Trail on one side of the Chehalis River Bridge to the trail on the other side of the bridge via a pedestrian underpass on pilings. The site could also be expanded in the future to create a fishing pier along the outer pile line of the old Donovan Mill. The pier could be accessible to people with physical handicaps.

* Build a facility based on a large capacity "Marine Travel Lift" (500 to 750 tons), a state of the art, filtered wash-down area and the ability to place one or more large vessels into a building so that inclement weather is not an issue.

* Consider a Waterfront Development District, with public access to the waterfront, vessel moorage, a canoe and kayak launch, a boat launch and shoreside amenities to support that public access. Upland facilities could combine education spaces and heritage exhibits interspersed with retail or commercial businesses.

WEYERHAEUSER PROPERTIES

Since the closure of the Aberdeen small log mill and the Bay City sorting yard last year, the conversation at the committee often turned to the Weyerhaeuser properties, Bolton said.

Ideas ranging from condominiums to shopping spaces have emerged at the meetings. And some have been optimistic that another company could start a mill along the waterfront.

Chavez said Weyerhaeuser is still trying to figure out if there are any internal uses the company could find for the Bay City logyard. But he says the company has been trying to market the sawmill property.

"We have a number of third party prospects for that property," Chavez said, declining to go into details.

The Weyerhaeuser property consists of the mothballed small and large log mill sites, the closed Bay City log yard and a large pier and its upland area. It is all zoned exclusively for industrial purposes. A change in zoning to a dual purpose of commercial and industrial zoning "might provide greater flexibility" in the marketing of the property, specifically for commercial development, according to the report.

But Bolton says a change in zoning may mean higher property taxes for Weyerhaeuser.

"Industrial zoning typically has lower property taxes than commercial zoning," he said on Friday.

But should the city take into consideration property tax implications in their decisions for a long-term vision of the waterfront?

Bolton says that's really up to the Planning Commission as its members mull the comprehensive plan over. The community report didn't want to weigh in on that issue.

WEYCO'S CONCERNS

The report notes, "Weyerhaeuser voiced a concern that dual purpose zoning at this point would be premature and might interfere with the marketing efforts for the property. ... Weyerhaeuser would like to maintain industrial zoning on all of their properties until such time that there is a reason to change that zoning."

The community group looked at the sawmill property in detail, noting the property contains a 380-foot pier with 24 feet of water at the pier face, and numerous upland buildings.

"There were a number of ideas regarding potential uses of the sawmill area including: Possible industrial use -- non-specific, possible mixed-use commercial -- non-specific and possible mixed-use public waterfront facility -- a Waterfront Development District," according to the report.

The Weyerhaeuser property between Shannon Slough and the bend in the river "is very compacted and would be an excellent location for a heavy 'lay down' yard, or heavy construction site," the report states.

The property has been used as a log storage yard for decades and includes the chip loading facility.

The Bay City yard includes a large pier and a large upland staging and storage area that runs from the city limits all the way up to the sorting yard, according to the report.

"Much like the soils in the sorting yard, the upland area of the Bay City yard is well compacted.," the report states. "Due to constraints of the turning basin and the controlling depth in the channel, the largest ship currently capable of loading at the Bay City yard is 600 feet in length with a maximum loaded draft of 34 feet. The Grays Harbor Pilots feel that there are multiple viable cargos for ships of that size -- including logs."

To read the report, join the ouraberdeen.com e-mail group by contacting stonepine@me.com.

Steven Friederich, a Daily World writer, can be reached at (360) 537-3927 or by e-mail at sfriederich@thedailyworld.com

Sails, trails, rails and roads - Aberdeen's history in a nutshell.