Image courtesy of the Port of Port Townsend

Port of Port Townsend commissioners will look at a proposal to help fund a clean-up study for a piece of private property in Port Townsend.

Officials will review an agreement between the Port of Port Townsend and the state Department of Ecology to conduct a supplemental investigation and clean-up plan for the site of an old gas station.

The investigation and planning is estimated to cost the port $145,000, with 100 percent of the consultant costs eligible to be reimbursed by Ecology. 

Port officials said the port could eventually acquire the property to build workforce housing.

For more than a year, the port has been interested in playing a helpful role in the clean-up and redevelopment of the old San Juan Grocery Store site, located at the intersection of San Juan and F Streets in Port Townsend.

“It is not the port’s responsibility, but it is within the port’s wheelhouse,” said Eron Berg, the executive director for the port in an email to The Leader.

“Ports clean up sites all over the state and it is, in fact, one of the areas where ports shine,” he added.

In 1996, the city designated and zoned the property as “mixed use” with the expectation that it would be developed for small-scale commercial use and medium density multifamily housing in multi-story buildings.

Port officials said the existence of petroleum contaminants, however, together with insufficient market demand, has impeded redevelopment and beneficial use of this site.

“I think a trades village with live work units would be pretty remarkable at that location. But step one is addressing the legacy contamination so the site can be redeveloped,” Berg said.