Land of opportunity?

A quarter-mile of Spokane River frontage may become a public beach if a plan by the city of Coeur d’Alene to purchase the property reaches fruition.

Or, it could be split up into a boat launch, docks and a swim area.

The city announced Thursday its plans to spend approximately $8 million to buy the former Atlas Mill site, a 47-acre parcel that includes a half-mile of river frontage, with plans to resell part of the property and develop the rest for public recreation.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council must first approve the purchase plan at its regular meeting next week, but city attorney Mike Gridley said he anticipates a positive reception.

“There has been a lot of enthusiasm,” Gridley said. “We think it will be a positive thing.”

The piece of ground along Seltice Way is owned by Bad Axe LLC, which belongs to Holly Lahti, a former Rathdrum bank teller and single mother who four years ago won a $200 million lottery jackpot and invested a portion of it in properties.

The mill site has been vacant for a decade, but it once housed a mill and lumber storage yards. What’s left now is mostly a swath of empty space that includes uneven ground and a hill called Big Hank.

“It’s log waste,” Gridley said. “They put asphalt on it. It’s a big amount of stuff.”

The structures were razed and removed years ago, and the large empty expanse is considered a brownfield site — a former industrial site set for development once it is remediated. Locally, brownfield sites have been used for developments such as at Riverstone.

But aside from leveling the property — maybe even knocking Big Hank down to size — the parcel seems to be free of toxic or hazardous material often associated with brownfield sites.

“I would suggest there’s no hazardous material there,” Gridley said.

The state’s department of environmental quality inspected it and signed off on the site a decade ago, Gridley said, when developer Marshall Chesrown, in an ill-fated deal with then-owner Stimson Lumber, made a move to buy the land.

Chesrown, known for his Black Rock development, filed a $72 million bankruptcy claim in 2013.

In a staff report prepared for the city, Gridley wrote one of the main reasons the city should be interested in buying the site is to obtain waterfront access and recreational or trail property for the community, “and to help facilitate the remediation of the land for redevelopment.”

“By purchasing this site the city will have access to the Spokane River and more land for public use,” according to the report.

The purchase will also provide an opportunity to work with ignite cda, the city’s urban renewal agency, in its efforts to remediate and redevelop the site.

“The city will ultimately sell or otherwise dispose of the property not needed for public use to make it available for redevelopment,” Gridley wrote in the report.

The purchase price for the property is $7.85 million if the sale is completed by Oct. 25, and $8 million if the sale has not been finalized by the end of the year. A $100,000 refundable escrow deposit is required for approval of the agreement.

If the deal goes through, the city could sell half of the water frontage to a private developer and use the remaining half for public access. If the council approves the transaction at its Tuesday meeting, the city will begin a four-month period of looking at options for future use of the property, deputy administrator Sam Taylor said.

“We’re basically going through the investigating phase,” Taylor said. “If we don’t feel comfortable with the answers coming back, we’re out nothing.”