Port 1 closer to funding business incubator project

Port District #1 Commissioners are one step closer to securing funds to construct a 5,000 square foot small business incubator facility in Cathlamet.

In late July, the state Department of Commerce announced the state’s Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) had awarded a $210,000 20-year no interest loan and a grant of $40,000 to the port, a key supporting piece in the port’s grant application for $1.2 million in federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) money. A decision about the grant application is expected in October.

The CERB funds are the first that Wahkiakum County has received in the board’s 26 years of operation, according to David Goodroe, executive director of the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council (LCEDC).

A feasibility study for the project was completed in 2008. The incubator would target mainly light industrial tenants and is projected to create 59 jobs at or above the county’s median wage in its first year of operation. The building plan includes broadband internet capability to attract telecommuting workers as well. Tenants would have three years to graduate from the program and move on to their own sites. Around the state, business incubators have been built in Tacoma, the Tri-Cities, and Ellensburg.

At the August 12 meeting of Port 1's board of commissioners, Goodroe said that he has solicited a letter of no interest on the prospective incubator site from the State Historic Preservation Officer, pitched the proposal to the state’s new Director of Commerce, Rogers Weed, and hopes to meet with Washington’s Senator Patty Murray. Senator Murray is on the Appropriations Committee which is charged with drafting legislation regarding funding many governmental agencies, including the EDA.

Goodroe has also talked with US Fish and Wildlife Service personnel about potential environmental impacts to the area. If the EDA grant is successful, then an Environmental Impact Statement would have to be written for the site. The proposed site under consideration has a history of industrial use.

Port commissioners also authorized Goodroe to prepare a Rural Communities grant to apply for state funds to build several more rental cabins at the Elochoman Marina. This grant is meant to go to rural Washington counties with high unemployment and to fund projects that will create jobs and long term benefits to the area.