The state inked a deal with a developer last week that gives the green light to the construction of what could be a major retail center in Kelso just off of Interstate 5 at Exit 36.

“I’m just tickled pink,” Kelso City Manager Denny Richards said Thursday, shortly after announcing the deal at the Chamber of Commerce’s “State of the Cities” luncheon at the county Expo Center.

“It’s just a critical project,” Richards said. “It’s going to be super. If we get enough retail stores in there, we can get 200, 250 jobs.”

Segale Properties of Tukwila, Wash., has been working for more than two years with the Washington State Department of Transportation, seeking a highway-access permit to reach to its 100-acre property just south of the I-5/ State Route 432 interchange (also known as the Longview Wye).

A farm road is the only way currently to access Segale’s land, a former marsh that was filled with tons of dredge spoils scooped out of area rivers following the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

Segale Properties had wanted to begin construction of its commercial development in 2008. The site was to include a couple of “big box” stores and a gas station, along with other smaller stores, Segale representatives told local realtors in September 2007. But Segale’s construction plans conflicted with WSDOT’s plans to reconfigure the Wye to improve safety, ease congestion and create better connections to existing roads.

One big problem was that WSDOT’s redesign of the Wye was intended to handle only 10,000 vehicle trips a day. WSDOT has been working more than a decade on the $45 million redesign and is putting the project out for bid at the end of this month.

According to WSDOT deputy regional administrator Bart Gernhart, the state reached an agreement last Friday that will allow Segale to move forward with developing the land. Segale’s consultant came up with a plan that would handle the extra traffic the yet-to-be announced development would create, and the state approved it after extended back-and-forth on the engineering details.

Gernhart said Segale is paying for the project redesign and additional construction costs, which involve adding extra lanes to SR-432’s off-ramp. The extra work is costing Segale between $1 million and $2 million, he said.

“We feel pretty comfortable that Mr. Segale is pulling his own weight and paying for the improvements necessary,” Gernhart said Thursday.

He said it’s unclear whether Segale still intends to build a major retail center. According to Gernhart, Segale representatives, who did not return The Daily News’ phone call Thursday, want to leave their options open to build whatever the market decides, so they wanted flexibility in their access to the site. The land is zoned light-industrial manufacturing.

“We don’t know what they’re going to build, but they’ve asked to reserve the right to build almost anything. Our opinion is that’s between them and the city,” he said.

Segale was waiting for an answer from WSDOT on the overall development before giving the city of Kelso plan details, Gernhart said. Thursday, City Manager Richards said he hasn’t received any documents yet from Segale.

The agreement with Segale took awhile to reach because it’s so complicated, Gernhart said. Among the items it covers: WSDOT is buying a piece of Segale’s property for the Wye interchange redesign. It’s also swapping easements with Segale so the state can install utilities and Segale can build an access driveway. In addition, Segale is paying WSDOT to install some of its underground utilities while WSDOT is widening the new roadway under the SR-432 bridge, Gernhart said.

WSDOT will do its best to have access to Segale’s development open by November 2010, Gernhart said.

Open House

The state Department of Transportation is holding an open house from 4-7 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Cowlitz PUD building, 961 12th Ave., to talk to the public about traffic disruptions during the $45 million reconstruction of the Longview Wye interchange (Interstate 5 / State Route 432). Road work is scheduled to begin around Thanksgiving.

 

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