Land buy spurs parking lot cleanup
The Port of Walla Walla will buy a parking lot it once owned near the post office.

The Port of Walla Walla has jump-started efforts to clean up a Second Avenue parking lot, contaminated from years as a service station.

On Thursday, Port commissioners unanimously approved purchase of the parking lot at 202 N. Second Ave., across from the U.S. Post Office.

The Port will pay $604,000 for the property from its current owner, hotelier Kyle Mussman. Port Executive Director Jim Kuntz said the land will be decontaminated, then sold for the value of the purchase and cleanup costs.

Thursday's decision sets in motion efforts to rehabilitate the property once and for all.

Although the Port hasn't owned the land since 2000, the discovery of contamination has put the brakes on the current owner's ability to sell the property.

The issue came to light earlier this year when Mussman lined up a Lake Oswego, Ore., buyer who wanted to build condominiums on the property.

When research showed the property was still listed on a Department of Ecology contamination list, Mussman took the issue up with the Port, the agency from which he bought the land. Although the Port and all the respective owners of the property over the years have recourse down the chain of title, Port officials believe the right thing to do is clean up the property and sell it for the cost of the purchase and cleanup.

``Instead of litigating it all the way down the chain of title, why not clean it up and get it going?'' Kuntz said Thursday.

``What's in the best interest of the public is to get the site cleaned up and get it back into the (market),'' he said.

Port commissioners Thursday unanimously approved an option agreement on the property with the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The agreement stipulates that when the land is clean, the Chamber will have a purchase option. The organization wants to build a business resource center on the land, Port officials said.

Cost to the Chamber would be an estimated $650,000, which includes cleanup. If the Chamber declines to purchase the land, Mussman will have the second chance at the property, Port officials agreed.

In the meantime, no change of hand will take place for at least about 18 months. That's how long Kuntz believes it will take to show the Ecology that the land is clear of contaminants.

As part of the process, the Port will need to provide clean water samples once a quarter for four consecutive quarters. Should any difficulty arise in the cleanup process, federal cleanup statutes could allow the Port to go down the chain of ownership, a move Port officials say would be a last resort.