Agreement - Portland's mayor accepts Robert Pamplin Jr.'s slimmed down gift of two parcels totaling about 60 acres
Thursday, October 05, 2006
ANNA GRIFFIN
Portland taxpayers soon might be the proud owners of a chunk of Ross Island, but they will not receive nearly as much of the Willamette River property as city leaders hoped and owner Robert Pamplin Jr. first offered.
Mayor Tom Potter and Pamplin, chairman and chief executive officer of Ross Island Sand & Gravel, reached a tentative agreement this week in which Pamplin will donate 45 acres on the island's western side to the city. That parcel, which hosts bald eagles, osprey, hawks and a blue heron rookery, remains untouched except for the occasional visit by kayakers, canoeists and trespassing campers.
Pamplin, one of Oregon's wealthiest people, plans to give the city another 15 acres nearby once his crews have finished a state-mandated environmental cleanup to remove soil, sediment and groundwater tainted with zinc, arsenic and other dangers, Potter said.
But Pamplin has backed off his original handshake deal with city leaders: Five years ago, he made a "take it or leave it" offer to give away the entire island, except for about 25 acres the sand and gravel company still uses. Pamplin's assistant said Wednesday that he had no comment.
"This is a good thing, in that the public will receive some important land that can be preserved and used to educate," said Travis Williams, executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper, the watchdog group. "But it certainly isn't what most people in good faith assumed as the full commitment."
Ross Island, a chain of four islands totaling almost 400 acres of land and water, sits about a mile south of downtown Portland and in the shadow of the new South Waterfront neighborhood. It's a key spot for several species of wildlife, and environmentalists say a cleaned-up Ross Island lagoon will be an important stop for young salmon to rest and feed on their trip to the ocean.
Ross Island Sand & Gravel mined and processed gravel for production of concrete on the site from the early 1920s through 2001, and Pamplin says he's spent $20 million repairing environmental damage on his property.
Katz's optimism
Five years ago, Mayor Vera Katz used her annual State of the City Address to announce that Pamplin had agreed to donate almost all of the island to the city by 2004. Katz described the deal as a cornerstone in her plan to clean the river and return it to public use.
"Imagine a restored Ross Island, with parks and open space, where the lagoon is a sanctuary for wildlife and a place where non-motorized boats can sail or row," she said in the speech, describing the island as "every bit as precious as Forest Park."
Pamplin, however, never put his commitment in writing. And during the ensuing five years, Katz's dream of a restored taxpayer-owned Ross Island became delayed and eventually downsized. City lawyers balked at Pamplin's insistence that they accept legal liability for future environmental claims on the property. Negotiators disagreed about how much money Pamplin should set aside for unforeseen cleanup costs. Reclamation of the island proved more time-consuming and contentious than anyone predicted.
Pamplin's letter
In a Sept. 27 letter to Potter, Pamplin suggested that city leaders had ignored his offer for a time.
"As you have been made aware, the Company made several overtures to the City, but those came to no avail for lack of response by the City," Pamplin wrote. "Obviously, this has become a contributing factor in any potential gift."
It's unclear whom Pamplin blames for that inattention. Katz says city negotiators, including City Commissioner Erik Sten, met consistently with Pamplin's representatives through the end of her administration. "We did everything we could, but there were so many details to work out," she said. "I guess my term ended too soon."
Potter said Pamplin wasn't referring to "since we took office." He said he did not know what had changed Pamplin's mind between 2001 and today. Frank Cable, a Pamplin lawyer, declined to elaborate on his boss's letter.
During the first 18 months of his administration, Potter left much of the communication with Pamplin to Sten, who agreed to handle things when Katz left office. But those negotiations bogged down when Pamplin insisted the city agree to accept responsibility for future environmental claims.
Earful on the offer
Earlier this year, Potter ran into Pamplin at a Volunteers of America conference and got an earful about Ross Island, according to the mayor's office. Pamplin told the mayor he was planning to withdraw his offer and preserve undisturbed portions of the island himself with no public access.
At that point, Potter became involved. He and Pamplin met one-on-one in early July and exchanged several letters outlining very different visions.
In a July 11 letter, Potter wrote that he hoped Pamplin would stick to his initial pledge -- all of the island. He wrote that the donation offered Pamplin and his family a chance to be remembered "as being as generous and as far-sighted as was the conservation of Bull Run and Forest Park, or the preservation of the waterfront with the construction of Tom McCall Park." This, the mayor wrote, was Pamplin's shot at history.
Pamplin's September letter contained a far different proposal: The city, he wrote, could have about 60 acres if Potter promised to use it only as a nature sanctuary. He also offered to donate $100,000 to the city for ivy removal. And he added a stern caveat: "This is the final discussion about a land donation . . . . This will be my final attempt at providing a donation of a portion of Ross Island to the City."
Two weeks to respond
Pamplin gave Potter two weeks to respond. Late Tuesday, the mayor sent Pamplin another letter accepting his terms and trying to put the best face on the situation by describing the 60 acres as a "significant portion" of Ross Island. He said he still hopes Pamplin will change his mind about donating more land as the environmental cleanup on the island continues.
Both Pamplin and the Portland City Council must approve any donation before it becomes official. Big questions remain. How much access, for example, will the public have to the island given Pamplin's insistence that it be kept "in its present natural state?"
On Wednesday, Potter chose to focus on the positives: If negotiations go well, Portlanders will receive a rare gift, a piece of pristine waterfront property. No matter that it's not as much as the mayor and environmentalists wanted.
"We asked for the entire property, and he said no," Potter said. "That's his right. This is the best we can get, and it's still very generous."