Benny Westcott
A letter signed by Sweet Home Mayor Greg Mahler, with the unanimous backing of the City Council, expressing concerns about the upcoming planned sale of the former Weyerhaeuser/Willamette Industries mill site east of Bi-Mart, was sent to Linn County Commissioners Roger Nyquist, Sherrie Springer and Will Tucker on Friday, Jan. 28.
The letter requested that the County Commission require any bidder to enter into a prospective purchaser agreement (PPA) with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) before auctioning off the property.
A PPA would serve to give the county and city assurance that the buyer will be legally obligated to continue the investigation and cleanup of the property upon purchase, the letter said.
The property remains contaminated and is not fully covered by no further action (NFA) determinations issued by DEQ.
The letter noted that “Significant contamination remains on the property’s central portion,” and “In fact, only one of the tax lots being auctioned is fully covered by an existing NFA determination.”
While Weyerhaeuser intends to complete the process to obtain an NFA for the property’s central portion, but Mahler’s letter stated that “significant contamination will remain on the property and limit its uses” even if that process is completed.
In addition, the letter asserted that portions of the property not covered by the NFA that Weyerhaeuser is pursuing have not been fully investigated, and thus any contamination associated with those portions is unknown.
The letter noted that, “Because neither of the two large tax lots comprising the vast majority of the property are fully covered by an NFA determination, the city is concerned that a buyer will not be able to obtain financing for development given most if not all lenders’ insistence on an NFA when lending against contaminated property.”
It went on to say that a lack of a property-wide NFA determination makes it likely that the property’s value will be reduced in the eyes of potential bidders, due to the stigma of environmental contamination.
The council wants to assure that whoever purchases the property is well aware that they would be on the hook to address environmental issues at the site.
“We are writing to request that the commission evaluate the bids it receives with an eye toward the bidder’s recognition that there is a need and responsibility to address contamination on the property, as well as the bidder’s ability and willingness to complete the environmental remediation,” the letter stated.
Mahler expressed concern that an uninformed or “undercapitalized” buyer would not be able to address the environmental problems necessary to bring the entire parcel back to productive use.
“There is a significant risk that a buyer would develop only a limited portion of the property that is sufficiently “clean,” and abandon the remainder,” Mahler’s letter warned.
The letter portrayed that representatives of the city understood the county’s desire to conclude its involvement with this property in a timely manner.
“While we understand that the PPA process takes time, the city believes the benefit it offers the county and city is worth the delay in closing the sale,” the letter read.
The letter concluded by saying “The city’s strong preference is to identify a buyer that will be able to bring the entire property back to full productive use, and the best route to ensure that is identifying a buyer with a complete understanding of the environmental concerns and a willingness to address them through a PPA.”