It hasn’t been built yet, but it has a name.
Port of Camas-Washougal commissioners voted unanimously this week to approve a moniker for a planned waterfront park and trail: Washougal Waterfront Park.
The 5.73-acre park and 0.7-mile trail improvements are part of a longer-term initiative: redeveloping a 40-acre waterfront site that’s 1.5 miles west of Washougal’s downtown and bounded by Highway 14 and the Columbia River.
With the park-and-trail project’s name in hand, the port expects to ask for construction bids in June, according to David Ripp, the port’s executive director. The hope is to launch construction by August and to complete the improvements by late fall.
To cover the cost of building the waterfront park and trail, the port is combining $1 million in tax-exempt financing with a $1.2 million grant from the Washington state Recreation and Conservation Office for a total of $2.2 million in funding.
The park will feature a non-motorized-boat launch where people may put kayaks and canoes in the river, Ripp said. Eventually, a second phase of park development will add a fishing platform.
The port also expects to incorporate signs, banners, and educational and historic features at the park and along the trail.
Settling on a name for the park and trail marks yet more progress on breathing new life into the 40-acre waterfront parcel. The site includes a former lumber mill property. The port owns about 67 percent of the overall site, while Killian Pacific, the Vancouver-based commercial real estate developer, owns 33 percent of it through its affiliate, Parkers Landing LLC.
Together, the port and Killian Pacific hope to transform the entire 40 acres into a focal point where people may live, work and play.
In June 2014, port commissioners received a market analysis, produced by Eric Hovee, principal of E.D. Hovee & Company LLC in Vancouver, that outlined the advantages and disadvantages of various building scenarios for the waterfront site. Redevelopment options included a mixed-use project, involving a cluster of retail, office and residential spaces, and a “multi-use destination development” — a regional attraction featuring such uses as a resort or recreational water park or specialty retail outlet mall.
Meanwhile, the port and the city of Washougal have worked with a team of students from Portland State University’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning program to help ensure that redevelopment of the waterfront parcel complements and connects to the city’s core.
The PSU team’s vision plan, informed by public input, covers everything from building on Washougal’s proximity to the Columbia Gorge to pump up tourist dollars to forging a “Greenway Loop” that connects the waterfront site to downtown Washougal and that promotes walking, bicycling and public transportation. Such a loop would create “destinations and activities along the route, enhancing user experience between the two areas,” according to the vision plan.
