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Final study of Port’s Columbia Gateway Project begins with $1.4
million contract
By approving a $1.4 million consulting
services contract to take it through the federal land use
permitting process, the Port of Vancouver has begun the final
environmental permitting process toward opening up 535 acres of
heavy industrially zoned property and another 540 acres being
designated for wetland and habitat mitigation.
The port’s commissioners unanimously
approved the contract this week with Jones & Stokes, an
environmental, transportation, community planning and natural
resources management consulting firm. Jones & Stokes has offices
throughout the west, including Vancouver.
Vancouver’s JD White Company has a
substantial subcontract to work with Jones & Stokes.
Columbia Gateway has been a long time in the
making. It extends port industrial sites on the Columbia River
north as far as the Vancouver Lake flushing channel. Most of the
property reserved for mitigation purposes is north of the
flushing channel.
Columbia Gateway is one of the premier
industrial property sites in the region, according to
Larry Paulson, Port of
Vancouver executive director.
Long envisioned as an extension of port
activities, studies for uses of Columbia Gateway began in
earnest in the mid-1990s.
The public will be involved with the
National Environmental Policy Act studies through public scoping
meetings later this year or early in 2005.
Streets at Esther
Short Park, Hilton Hotel scheduled for extreme makeover
City planners are calling for a “modern”
roundabout and “curbless” plaza at the intersection of 6th
Street and Esther Street at the southwest corner of Esther Short
Park.
Ornamental street lights, basalt rock
designs, and other landscaping are being planned to extend the
theme of the park across to the Farmers Market on Esther Street,
and the Hilton Hotel and convention center across 6th Street.
All overhead utility wires will be put
underground.
An open house to present the city plans will
be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, July 29, in City Hall.
Construction is to begin this fall, and both streets should be
completed a year from now.
Hot July Nights opens
in
Esther Short Park tomorrow
The gates open for
K. C. Fuller’s two-day
Hot July Nights in Esther Short Park at 4 p.m. Friday, July 16.
Sequel opens the music
portion of the event at 6 p.m. Headliner Friday is
Loverboy, scheduled for 8
p.m.
Headlining Saturday, July 16, activities are
The Supremes, known
briefly at the beginning of their career as the Primettes, at 8
p.m. Gates open at 2 p.m. Saturday.
A beer and wine garden, outdoor barbecue ,
and the largest dance floor in Vancouver complement the show.
Admission is $10 Friday, $15 Saturday.
Vancouver residents
madder than hell
Margaret
Kretschmar and her neighbors and members of the Clark
County Airport Issues Roundtable are not nearly as happy as she
appeared to be in Vancouver yesterday picketing a meeting of the
PDX Noise Advisory Committee. The Portland-based committee has
ignored pleas from Vancouver to consider moving noisy flight
paths farther south of Vancouver. Kretschmar urges those with
complaints to call the PDX Noise Abatement Office,
(800) 547-8411.
News brief
A public meeting presenting information on
proposed street improvements on Kauffman Avenue from Fourth
Plain Boulevard to 39th Street is at 6:30 p.m. this evening in
the Public Service Center’s 6th floor training room, 1300
Franklin Street.
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