Rivers a key to reversing community's decline

Industrial dominance of waterfront should yield to other uses

The Kelso-Longview community is surrounded by water, but there’s precious little public access to it.

That’s starting to change.

The city of Kelso has set aside $15,000 to create a kayak launch along the Coweeman River.

The city of Longview is working on land exchanges south of the Hall of Justice in hopes of creating a 4.5-acre nature park with disabled access trails, picnic tables and, perhaps,  a floating boat dock moored to the banks of the Cowlitz River. 

Longview Parks Director Jen Wills dreams of a day when kayakers and canoeists can put in at the Castle Rock boat launch, take out at the new nature park and enjoy a restaurant meal or at least a picnic following their drift.

There is no timetable for either of these projects, but they should start a broader conversation about how these towns use their waterfronts. Should, for example, part of the Port of Longview’s vacant, 282-acre Barlow Point property be converted into a mixed-use natural area with trails and other amenities? 

Now, nearly every scrap of riverfront in this community is occupied by industry. It’s been that way for more than a century. Other uses could make the area more livable and attractive to both employers and young people, helping create a vibrant, 21st century community.

Somehow, reversing the area’s long, slow decline into senescence must be a priority, and making the rivers more accessible to recreation, entertainment, residency and other uses is a good place to start.

First, though, a brief look at what’s in play along the waterfront.

Kelso still is scoping out the nature, cost and permitting of its Coweeman project, which would be located on the south side of the river near the freeway bridges. Planning is the early stages. A small land purchase is necessary, and it’s not yet clear if $15,000 is enough for the project, city engineer Mike Kardas said.

Longview’s project also will take time to develop. The city must determine how it can afford to develop and maintain another park, Wills said.

“With competing priorities, I don’t know when and if this could occur,” Wills said. “Bringing on an entirely new park with these amenities and water access  takes more time than just building a playground.”

The cost shouldn’t be great‚ perhaps $2 million, Wills said.

“It would be nice to do this within five years.”

The city owns most of the land and is working out an exchange with the Longview diking district to acquire the remaining parcels.  However, the old Charlie’s Restaurant remains in private hands and must be purchased to be included in the park for parking or other related uses.

Wills sees a need for more water recreation. Kayaking has become popular, and more watercraft are showing up on Lake Sacajawea.  “We don’t have a lot of river recreational access outside of Gerhart Gardens and Willow Grove.”

Water access is a big draw for tourists and residents, Wills said.

“People gravitate toward the water,” and preserving access to it while it is still available is an important livability issue, she said.

Which brings me to Barlow Point, an expanse of grassy, shrubby land incised by drainage ditches just west of the former Reynolds Metals Cable plant. It is bordered on the south by the Columbia River and the former Mount Solo Landfill to the north.

Barlow Point is the last large piece of land that at least resembles the state of the Kelso-Longview floodplain prior to white settlement. It is managed mostly for grazing and hay production and provides habitat for wildlife such as waterfowl, deer and coyotes.

It would be a great location for hiking and biking trails linked to the bike trail in the Longview diking system and beyond.  A riverside amphitheater overlooking the Columbia could be a stunning venue. Pernhaps part of the area could be developed along the lines of the Port of Kalama’s riverside park near the McMenamins Kalama Harbor Lodge or the Port of Vancouver’s quay area near the Interstate Bridge.

Barlow Point is, however, zoned for heavy industry. Industrial land like it is becoming scarce, making it a valuable site, says Port of Longview CEO Dan Stahl. 

“There is a lot of industrial property that has been (developed) and taken off the market, and that puts pressure on the properties that are left. From our perspective, (Barlow Point) is a place for industrial development. We are seeing interest” from potential clients, Stahl said.

Likely port tenants may be exporters of bulk products such as soda ash and wood pellets. The port will not pursue a fossil fuel client, given opposition to previous proposals in the area, Stahl said. However, it could become a green energy site, such as a hydrogen fuel production facility because of its proximity to the substation that used to serve the Reynolds Metals  aluminum plant, he added. (Hydrogen fuel manufacturing uses lots of electricity.)

The problem with Barlow Point is that there are no utilities or adequate roads or rail lines to serve the area.  Developing them could take decades and would cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars, money the port does not now have.  

In addition, the port now is focused on two other projects; redeveloping the former Continental Grain terminal at Berth 4 just upstream of the Lewis and Clark Bridge; and a $100 million expansion of its internal rail system. 

So banking on Barlow Point to deliver an industrial jobs boost anytime soon may be wishful thinking. 

Given this uncertainty, shouldn’t the port at least consider setting some of this property aside for waterfront recreational use? We need manufacturing jobs, but to be successful and livable a community needs amenities, too. 

There’s a reason so many professional people who work here live elsewhere and why the community is aging and lacks an educated work force. It’s because so many young people who grow up here earn college degrees somewhere else and don’t return. We need to create a livable community that can anchor them here. Improving access to the water would be a step in that direction.

R.A. Long’s example is instructive. He didn’t just build the world’s largest sawmill in Longview in the 1920s. He also built a grand high school and library. He had a swampy,  abandoned river channel sculpted into a gorgeous urban park and lake.

He didn’t need to do any of this. He did so because he understood that a community is not just a place to earn a living. It’s a place to live.