City has a path to acquire land for riverfront park

The City of Aberdeen is in line to acquire a plot of land near the mouth of the Wishkah River to later be made into a riverfront park conceived by the downtown development group Aberdeen Revitalization Movement and the city.

City officials are now coordinating an environmental assessment on six-acres on the west side of the Wishkah River near the Chehalis River Bridge. Following the assessment and an appraisal of the property, the Trust for Public Land will make an offer and buy the land. The city will pay back the trust over several years. The trust is a national organization that helps cities acquire and preserve parkland.

Earl Whiting, a longtime businessman in the wood products industry, owns the property, according to the Grays Harbor County Assessor’s Office.

The Bozeman Group, consultants hired by the city a year ago, created a rendering of the park last June that included a plaza to commemorate famed Aberdeen rock band Nirvana, a viewing tower, forest grove, stage and yards of beach access. Lisa Scott, the city’s community development administrator, said Friday that the city has not made any decision on how the park will look, and that the city intends to acquire the land first.

Access to the waterfront, Scott said, was a high-priority direction the city gave to the Bozeman Group when it started work in town a year ago. Other priorities included cleaning up the entrance to downtown and traffic mitigation along Wishkah, which is set to be addressed later this summer by reducing the street to two lanes.

The rendering also shows the park extending beyond the six acres of Whiting’s land. Still, Scott said the environmental assessment is only for the six acres of the Whiting property.

That assessment, Scott added, is set to be completed in June.

In a Thursday meeting between city officials and Aberdeen Revitalization Movement volunteers, Scott Reynvaan, an ARM volunteer who once served as a director for the organization, said the Trust for Public Land was ready to “move forward” on buying the land.

The city, Reynvaan said at the meeting, could then take up to the next seven years to apply for grants through the state Recreation and Conservation Office to reimburse the trust.

“This gives the City of Aberdeen a unique opportunity to own a strategic piece of waterfront and potentially build a new waterfront park,” he added.

Malcolm Bowie, the city’s public works director, did not return calls requesting comment.

Kyle Mittan, 360-537-3932, kmittan@thedailyworld.com. Twitter: @KyleMittan