Port of Woodland buys Austin Point land

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The sale of more than 150 acres of land owned by the Washington state Department of Natural Resources will allow for future development for the Port of Woodland, though a port official says other projects come first on the port’s development plans.

A release from the Board of Natural Resources stated that during the board’s Sept. 5 meeting it approved the sale of land off of Kuhnis Road outside of Woodland city limits, northeast of the junction of the Lewis and Columbia rivers.

The release stated that roughly 153 acres of DNR-owned land would be purchased by the port for a total of around $1.7 million. The department will use the proceeds to purchase more productive revenue-generating lands for the Common School Trust elsewhere in the state. The port will take on an agricultural lease on the property that generates about $11,000 a year.

Although the board has approved the transaction, on the port’s side the major focus is on other projects for now. 

Port of Woodland Executive Director Jennifer Keene wrote in an email that the DNR board is moving forward faster than they are on that particular piece of property.

“The reason we haven’t released much about this is because —  it isn’t done on the port’s side,” Keene wrote in an email. “DNR has taken their final vote with the board and there is an opportunity through a 30-day period for appeal. We are cautiously optimistic about the final transfer but this has been a long trek for both the Port and DNR so we continue to take a step by step, day by day approach to the transaction.”

The port had a rail easement in the area dating back to 1980, Keene wrote, but legal issues mired any progress on using it to connect to property owned by the port to be used, as was planned at the time, for a grain terminal. A change in state law ended that easement outside of the port’s knowledge, though when interest in property built, it was finally discovered.



In 2014, discussions picked up on securing property in order to maintain rail access as per the DNR’s suggestion to outright buy property rather than seek an easement.

After some progress, any chance at acquisition of property was halted in November 2016 when the port learned the DNR was not going through with the transaction. 

The port got some help from Washington state Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, the ranking minority member in the House Capital Budget committee, who worked with the DNR. With the arrival of new state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, the transaction was back up for review in January.

Keene wrote that the port has been “very clear” that the Austin Point development is speculative at this point. Port property in the Austin Point area stems back to its founding in 1963, and they are in no rush to make decisions regarding development in the area.

 “The right development that is right for the Port, for our community and for the environment will eventually come and present itself,” Keene wrote. “Our goal is to have the property available, to consider certain planning aspects including rail accessibility to our property for any development, and market the property as such.”

Existing port projects such as the two phases of the Guild Road Industrial Park project and a new transload facility at the Schurman Way Industrial Park will take priority over any other port projects, Keene wrote.