Plans to redevelop the Ridgefield waterfront are moving ahead as officials consider many of the possibilities present.
The first development planned for 41 acres of Port of Ridgefield-owned property abutting Lake River will likely see the smallest change to the landscape. In September, the port announced it would dedicate 8 acres of that land for a public park.
Park planning
The land for the park will extend from the existing trail on port property to the water’s edge, north of the boat launch, Port of Ridgefield CEO Randy Mueller said.
Mueller noted the park’s development and general location is something that was agreed upon by port commissioners years ago.
The next step for the park will include a joint process between the port and the city of Ridgefield to find a firm to design it, Mueller said. The overall planning will involve public outreach from both entities.
“It’s something we really feel strongly about, that this does need to be a joint process between the city and port. … (W)e’ve partnered in so many areas, and I think that this is one area where we realize it needs to be a very wide community process for planning that park,” Mueller said.
He said the planning will look at potential amenities as well as the park’s interface with the rest of the port’s property, the Division Street boat launch and its northern border with the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
Who ends up operating the park — the port or the city — is yet to be determined, be it through a lease, property transfer or some other mechanism, Mueller said. One chief aspect of that maintenance is dealing with the past soil contamination and the need to follow procedures to avoid capped property from re-contaminating the environment.
The port’s waterfront property was once the site of a wood treatment facility. After it left in the 1990s, the port was left with an environmental cleanup costing roughly $70 million.
The port has been planning the redevelopment of the waterfront since the early 2000s, though it only has limited public space, Mueller said.
“The public was not encouraged or even allowed to be down here,” Mueller said about the pre-cleanup situation.
Around 2007 or 2008, another round of planning changed the minds of port commissioners who moved toward the idea of including a public park along with the other redevelopment plans.
Waterfront plan history
A previous subdivision plan for the waterfront was approved nearly a decade ago. In 2014, the “Miller’s Landing” subdivision plan included a layout for the port-owned property.
That plan expired in 2021, Mueller said. The port didn’t do anything based on that plan because of the environmental cleanup and the then-ongoing work for the railroad overpass, which now connects Pioneer Street with the roads at the port property.
Development of the area before that time would have required moving additional traffic along the old at-grade crossings with the railroad at Mill and Division streets, Mueller noted.
“The old Miller’s Landing plan, when I go back and look at it, it’s fairly dated,” Mueller said.
One aspect in particular included a lot of speculative office space, which in a post-COVID-19 world isn’t as viable, since more people now work from home, he said.
“It was a great plan in 2014 when it was adopted. But ultimately, as we’ve kind of picked up the ball to move the waterfront development forward, we’re really starting from scratch,” Mueller said.
Starting from scratch recognizes the population growth the city has experienced, Mueller said. Last summer, the port put out a survey to see what the public wanted to see at the waterfront.
“We were always going to redevelop the waterfront. The idea of leaving it in an undeveloped state is a non-starter for the port,” Mueller said. “Our primary mission is job creation and economic development.”
He noted the area has been a “working waterfront” for a century.
“As we replace the 12 buildings we demolished as part of the environmental cleanup, what we are going to replace those with is the question we’re really working on right now,” Mueller said.
With any concrete plans still up in the air, Mueller said the possibilities of a residential component are also under consideration.
“The best, most active and thriving waterfronts we see around the Northwest all do have some sort of residential component,” Mueller said.
Such an inclusion is far from being in the final plans, Mueller noted.
Mueller said the Miller’s Landing concept utilized a lot of resources on specific design work that dictated the building. He said any developer that comes to the area will already have an idea of what they can do on the property.
“They’re going to know what they want to build, and instead of trying to guess, the idea is really trying to let them do that,” Mueller said.
Instead, the port is creating a much-broader framework as would-be developers go through the city’s processes.
Mueller said the waterfront park will be the first step given the charge from the commission, but the commercial aspect isn’t far behind. He said by early summer, the port should have answers on what mix of uses and areas of property will be developed. Public input will come in before the plan is adopted by the port commission.
One man’s alternative
The current development doesn’t sit well with one longtime user of one of the port’s most prominent waterfront properties: the Ridgefield boat launch.
Rick Grenz has used the boat launch on Lake River since 1966. He said the boat launch has been neglected for years, which has caused headaches for those who want to get out onto the water.
“In the summer months when it’s warm, and everybody wants to be down there and enjoy the water, … it’s just a zoo,” Grenz said.
Grenz has developed his own plans for improvements around the boat launch, which would increase the number of launch docks and the amount of boat trailer parking. In order to have it enacted, the port’s current plans would have to shift all of its economic development north of Division Street.
Grenz, along with his neighbor, developed a plan that would add more than 100 boat trailer parking spaces to where overflow parking currently exists on port property. It does feature the potential for a city park, but a blueprint he provided to The Reflector shows it is about a fourth of the size of what the port is promising.
Grenz spoke at length about issues with parking at the current boat launch. He said spaces aren’t clearly defined, which leads to boaters who park at an angle, further limiting the few dozen spaces that are available.
“These (spaces) are tight quarters, and these longer boat trailers, some people don’t pay attention like they should,” Grenz said.
Grenz feels like the lack of a greater focus on the existing offerings in the new development is an unfortunate result of seeking money over recreation.
“If there’s a discrepancy in revenue, a lot of times it’s the development that wins out,” Grenz said.
Having adequate access to boating should weigh greater in the discussion, Grenz said, especially after the pandemic led many people to search for ways to enjoy themselves outside of their usual routines.
“(During COVID-19), they went up in the mountains, they went on the waterways, they enjoyed the parks. That’s what this area provides,” Grenz said. “If it’s such a headache because of the bottleneck at the launch, I think that’s wrong.”
