Purchase of flour Mill underway

OAKESDALE — The Port of Whitman County and Haley and Aldrich presented to a packed McCoy Valley Museum to discuss the purchase of the Old Mill from the Innovia Foundation.

Community members filled the Oakesdale museum Monday, Oct. 21; along with guests, Port of Whitman County Executive Director Kara Riebold, Haley and Aldrich, Inc Geologist-Environmentalist Scientist Ward McDonald and Innovia Foundation Chief Strategy Officer Aaron McMurray present.

“We are excited, because on Wednesday at the commission meeting, Innovia and our commissioners will have the transfer of ownership documents in front of them for approval,” Riebold said.

Riebold reported that ownership would transfer on Wednesday, Oct. 23, to the Port of Whitman.

“Tonight in the town council they will have a right of first refusal document, that there are still plans to do this,” said Riebold, adding this would allow the town to purchase the building first if the Port ever were to sell.

The town also received an interlocal agreement between the town and the Port which allows the community to continue to use the Oakesdale Mill property for community events like Old Mill Days.

“We were excited that a couple weeks ago the Port was rewarded with a planning study from CERB,” said Riebold, adding that design west is a feasibility study that kicked off the purchase of the Mill from Innovia.

“We’re going to continue that work with further planning and discussion about options for how it can be used,” Riebold said.

McDonald gave a presentation on the mill as a brownfield site, explaining the site is home to the former Oakesdale Flour Mill, developed in the 1890s with operations ceasing in 1962.

The site has been vacant and undeveloped for 40 years other than being a historic landmark.

According to McDonald, the site is potentially contaminated with metals from being transported to Oakesdale from Pennsylvania by railcar, circa 1890.

McDonald said they are currently working on Phase II of the project and using the brownfield to investigate the magnitude of contamination.

“The Port plans to rebuild the site into a community area,” said McDonald, noting there are numerous ideas for reuse of the site.

The Port’s $500,000 EPA Brownfield Community-Wide assessment grant will help fund Phase I and Phase II ESAs, community engagement and reuse planning.

Riebold said that additional state-level grants and funds are being pursued and an advisory committee of community members will facilitate community discussion.

“I would just like to say it’s been a privilege on behalf of the Innovia Foundation to get to work with the community up until this point,” McMurray said. “This for me is a culmination of a lot of really important conversations and I’m really glad to be here with all of you.”

“I have so many people who stop in here when I have the museum open from Memorial Day until the end of September taking pictures of that mill and they stop in and ask questions,” said Oakesdale Mayor Dennis Palmer. “There are three assets in this area that we need to take care of and that Old Mill is one of them.”