WASHOUGAL — More than 100 people turned out to help the Port of Camas-Washougal celebrate the grand opening of its new Washougal Waterfront Park on Friday.
Standing at a podium in the parking lot with part of the new park and the Columbia River in the background, port Executive Director David Ripp addressed the crowed during the opening ceremony on Friday afternoon.
“I get a little emotional when I look out at this thing. If you would have seen what it was two years ago,” he said.
Located at 56 S. First St. in Washougal, the park sits on the 40-acre former home of the Hambleton Lumber Co. mill, which closed in 2010 after decades of operation. However, the park is a world away from its former industrial use.
At about 7 acres, the park includes a picnic shelter and artistic treatments to its concrete surfaces with stainless steel salmon inlays near the restrooms. Close to the waterfront, a big concrete compass rose provides a picturesque view of the Columbia and Mount Hood. The park also boasts a nonmotorized boat launch, interpretive signs detailing the area’s unique qualities and a 0.7-mile walking trail, which will be extended later on.
The park sits just to the east of the port’s facilities and on part of a parcel slated to become a mixed-use development. The port owns about 27 acres of the old mill site. The remaining 13 acres are owned by Parker’s Landing, a company which is represented by Vancouver-based commercial real estate developer Killian Pacific.
“This will be a developed site, but the community will still have access and not lose it to a bunch of houses or businesses,” Ripp said.
Construction of the park started in the summer of 2015 and cost $3.1 million to complete. It was funded via a grant from the state Recreation and Conservation Office valued at $1.7 million and $1.4 million from the port.
During his opening remarks, Jon Snyder, outdoor recreation and economic development adviser to Gov. Jay Inslee, commended the port on building the new park and cited outdoor recreation as a large economic driver for the state, and as a revenue generator of roughly $1 billion in Clark County alone.
