Wwp Buys More Land Over Oil Spill Lot To Be Used In Containment, Cleanup Effort

Washington Water Power Co. has bought more property tainted by its controversial underground oil spill in downtown Spokane.

The utility recently paid $200,000 for a lot east of the Rodeway Inn, which it bought in 1994. WWP intends to use the lot as part of its spill containment and cleanup effort.

The lot includes 50 feet of First Avenue frontage and stretches back 155 feet. It is part of a parcel on which the city hopes to build a large parking garage for the Davenport Hotel and other businesses.

Some surrounding property owners fear the spill has turned the area into a “brownfield” - a contaminated block of land that discourages economic developers and banks.

In the past two years, WWP officials have tried to minimize the concerns. The company has offered to insure property owners against any financial impact from the spill.

But since the spill was made public in 1993, the utility also has been the only aggressive prospector in the contaminated area.

It bought the Rodeway Inn for $1.75 million, almost twice the appraised value. On March 26, the company closed on a deal on the neighboring lot - for $40,000 less than its appraised value.

WWP’s Pete Kerwin said he believes the area can flourish, noting a developer is interested in renovating the steam plant and that business is thriving at the Rodeway Inn.

“The future looks very promising in that area,” he said.

Not everyone is convinced.

Bill Stimson, board member for the Friends of Davenport Committee, said he hopes WWP’s real estate ventures are driven by desires to improve a core city block - instead of a quest to minimize cleanup costs.

“What are their plans” for the property? asked Stimson, an associate professor of journalism at Eastern Washington University. “Do they have a vision, or are they just sweeping things under the rug?”

Kerwin said the property will be used as a staging area for work on an oil containment wall, part of the utility’s proposed solution to the spill.

The state Department of Ecology is reviewing the utility’s cleanup proposal and expects to announce what it wants WWP to do by late July. Actual cleanup could begin as early as August.

Kerwin said after the utility concludes its spill responsibilities, it plans to sell the Rodeway and the adjoining lot.

David Mandyke, of the city’s public works department, said WWP’s latest land purchase may help prospects for building a downtown parking garage. The city would rather negotiate with a local owner than the former New York owner.

“We know Washington Water Power,” Mandyke said. “I would see that as progress.”

Garage plans hinge on the renovation of the Davenport Hotel. Once the hotel is 75 percent remodeled, the city has committed to buying the land and building the garage.

Owners of the Davenport maintain that the unexpected spread of the oil scotched prior efforts to get a loan to finish the landmark building in early 1994.

The oil spill was first detected in 1982, when workers at WWP’s defunct steam plant noticed a leak in an underground fuel tank. The size of the spill was underestimated for a decade.

What was originally considered a 1,300-gallon spill is now estimated at about 100,000 gallons. The state says the gooey oil poses no immediate threat to public health or the environment.

, DataTimes