This train keeps a-rollin'

COEUR d'ALENE - The Spokane River waterfront corridor sat idle for years after the old lumber mills shut down in the 1990s, but that may change in the near future.

If the Lake City Development Corporation agrees next week to partner with the city of Coeur d'Alene on a deal to purchase an old railbed that served the mills, much of the undeveloped property will become much more appealing to developers.

Earlier this month, the Coeur d'Alene City Council agreed to purchase a two-mile stretch of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way that stretches from Huetter Road to Riverstone.

The city has spent years negotiating with BNSF to purchase the land because it bisects most of the waterfront parcels of property in the corridor, making it difficult to develop.

BNSF has finally agreed to sell the property for $2.5 million, which is $1.8 million below market value, but in order to close the deal the city will need to partner with LCDC, which has two urban renewal districts in the area.

LCDC Executive Director Tony Berns said the agency's acquisition committee is expected to recommend partnering with the city on the deal.

"We have been a proponent of this from the get-go too," Berns said. "We said we would be a willing partner with the city but this is all tentative right now."

He said the full board would have to make that decision at its meeting on Wednesday.

If it agrees to the deal, LCDC would pony up slightly more than $1.4 million to purchase the property that lies within the agency's jurisdiction and the city would purchase the railbed in its jurisdiction for $1.1 million.

If the purchase occurs, the city and LCDC would work out the ownership and control of the property possibly through a memorandum of understanding.

"It just depends on how it all shakes out," he said. "We can do a lot with the city; we can give the city property, we could trade property with the city and the city can give us property."

Berns said those details will have to be worked out as the deal comes together. If the deal goes through, he said the city will own a chunk of the railbed that isn't in an urban renewal district and LCDC will own both end-sections of the right-of-way.

The section of the railbed that runs through the Mill River development could be used to expand Johnson Park and possibly build a trail.

"We will likely partner with the city and work with the homeowners out there to build a trail or something like that," he said.

Coeur d'Alene City Attorney Mike Gridley told the council on Aug. 5 that he has already begun preliminary discussions with two developers which may want to trade the city's portion of railbed for public access to the waterfront.

Meanwhile, LCDC is looking at the possibility of expanding the urban renewal district near the old Atlas Mill site, to help remediate the Mount Hink portion of the property.

Mount Hink is composed of large piles of old mill waste, asphalt and other debris that make that property hard to develop.

"We can add value to the community by helping whoever buys that Atlas Mill property by helping to remediate that," Berns said. "It's going to take millions of dollars to fix it.

"I think whoever buys that is going to want some help remediating that, and that's kind of what we do."

He said there are developers looking at that parcel now.

"Something has to be done to get rid of that," he said. "We might be a part of that. The board hasn't discussed that, but envision whoever buys that is going to want some help.

"Then we will go to city council and ask them to expand that or do something that will allow us to play."

The LCDC board meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Community Room at the Coeur d'Alene Library.