Harbor Island Businesses Take Stand

It's not a pretty island, but that's the point. Where else could you put a scrap-metal recycling plant, a foundry, a machining operation?

Or, for that matter, container terminals?

The Port of Seattle and a small group of industrial-property owners have begun a push-and-pull effort over Harbor Island, and that hasn't been pretty either.

The island, home to heavy industry for more than half a century, figures prominently in the container-terminal expansion plan that port staff released this month. Of 240 acres of terminal space that the plan would add within a decade, 100 would be on the island.

But so are the businesses, and they don't want to move.

Even though the port has said it would help companies buy land elsewhere, the businesses say the cost of moving would likely shut them down. If they could move, they fear zoning elsewhere offers few options for their heavy machinery, some of which weighs up to 400 tons. And the port holds the power to condemn their property.

Port staff members reply that the Port Commission hasn't approved their container plan yet and that they will evaluate each case individually. But some companies, such as Seattle Iron & Metals Corp., said they have been told they need to leave as soon as possible.

"We want to be forthcoming with people and let them know what's coming down the road," said Keith Christian, the port's director of marine planning and development. "These are just preliminary discussions, but sometimes people interpret that as something else."

"They made their plan before they ever saw what it was going to cost to displace us," counters Conrad Unger, president of Hardware Specialty Co., an electrical-supplies wholesaler on 11th Avenue Southwest.

Four companies alone have estimated their collective cost of relocation at between $20 million and $25 million, a sum the port may not completely reimburse. Only $80 million is budgeted so far for the first phases of development on Harbor Island, including the costs to buy land and to build terminal space.

"I couldn't afford to pay that to move myself," said Dick DeFaccio, administrative manager of Harbor Island Machine Works Inc.

Christian said port planners are evaluating the companies' concerns and may take the southernmost portion of Southwest Spokane Street out of the development plan. But if the land is essential to keep railcars and traffic moving through the new container space, the recommendation won't change, he said.

And the port is discussing acquisition with about seven other property owners. Christian wouldn't characterize those talks but said some others also don't want to sell.

Several business owners, meanwhile, say the port has presented its relationship with environmental officials as a "carrot and a stick" that could make turning over property smooth or quite costly.

If the companies agree to negotiate with the idea of selling their property to the port, the port might be able to influence assessments by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is sampling soil on Harbor Island for a Superfund cleanup. The island's businesses may have to pay for cleanup even if they didn't contaminate their own soil.

The business owners and other members of the public will be able to comment on the plan at a port commission meeting June 11.