Molehill out of a mountain
A vehicle on Seltice Way passes by on Thursday as heavy equipment operators remove the massive mountain of excavating mining material nicknamed, "Mt. Hink."
BILL BULEY/Press
A driver heads out with a truck load of bark, sawdust and other debris from the old Atlas Mill site just off Seltice Way on Thursday.
COEUR d’ALENE — Truckload by truckload, Mt. Hink is shrinking and will soon be just a memory.
The massive mound of bark, sawdust and debris that towers over Seltice Way near Atlas Water Park is the result of decades of industrial mill site use and site modifications.
In March, LaRiviere, Inc., began hauling it away, removing unsuitable materials from the site to rehabilitate it for future building opportunities.
Eighteen to 20 trucks are making about 400 daily trips, moving about 5,000 cubic yards Monday to Friday between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.
“It’s going well,” said Tony Berns, executive director of ignite cda, the city’s urban renewal agency.
The $5 million project is expected to be finished by August.
Ignite cda’s third and newest district, the Atlas District, was formed by the City Council in December 2018. The district consists of 68 acres and includes the property that was the former Atlas Mill site. The city purchased the eastern portion, 47 acres, of the old mill site and transferred that property to ignite cda for redevelopment.
The Atlas development in place of the mill will have hundreds of homes once finished. Already, many of the properties have been sold as townhouses, single-family and multi-family homes are rising from the dirt.
The mixed-use development will also have commercial activities.
“I think we have a huge demand out there for these type of products,” Berns said.
Mt. Hink grew taller as the land was excavated, commanding attention and drawing questions about what it was and why it was there.
It won't be much longer.
The "nonstructural material” is loaded into trucks for the trip onto Seltice Way and on to Ramsey Road, where it's being used to fill a gigantic hole at the Idaho Transportation Department’s site across from the Kroc Center.
That property in turn could be turned into a baseball field. The city would first have to work out a deal with ITD to acquire it.
Once Mt. Hink is no more, the site will be prepared for future building opportunities, Berns said.
The City Council earlier this year rejected a proposal to close a section of the North Idaho Centennial Trail for several months between Atlas Waterfront Park and Golf Course Road to provide an easier route for trucks to travel to the ITD site.
It would have saved ignite cda about $1 million, but council members said the trail was too popular and important to close.
