Riley Creek's Sandpoint mill to close
—Photo by LUCY DUKES<br>Riley Creek's Sandpoint mill will be closed some time this year because the cost of transporting products from Chilco to Sandpoint for finishing creates inefficiencies. The employees will be moved to a new facility the company is building in Chilco.
No jobs to be lost, owner says
SANDPOINT — Riley Creek will close its Sandpoint mill within the next year and move the facility's 70 employees to a plant the company is building next to a Riley Creek mill located in Chilco.
None of the 70 people who work in Sandpoint will lose their jobs, said Riley Creek owner Marc Brinkmeyer.
"Our plan is they would be absorbed into our company," he said.
The Chilco project is in the permitting phase right now. When the facility is built, some of the equipment from Sandpoint will be moved to Chilco, said Brinkmeyer.
Riley Creek is closing the Sandpoint mill because of inefficiencies in transporting lumber from the Chilco mill, where it is cut, to the Sandpoint site, where the lumber is planed, graded and shipped to buyers.
Building a facility at Chilco will cut costs, said Brinkmeyer.
The closure is part of the company's long-term plan. When Riley Creek purchased the facility from Louisiana Pacific this fall, along with mills in Moyie Springs and Chilco, the company indicated it would close the mill, he said.
"This is not a surprise to our people," Brinkmeyer added.
Louisiana Pacific still owns the land upon which the mill is located.
"Once it comes to the point where the property is unencumbered, we will list it for sale," said LP spokesperson David Dugan, who did not know the value of the property.
The closure marks the end of an era for Sandpoint, which has almost always had at least one major mill in town as well as various "mom and pop operations," according to Bonner County Historical Museum curator Ann Ferguson.
"Historically, almost every little town had a mill," Ferguson said.
Riley Creek purchased the mill about a year about a year ago from Louisiana Pacific, which had owned it since the early 1970s, said Dugan.
Before that, it was the Hedlund mill.
The closure also means the city will not collect about $32,000 in taxes on the equipment at the site, which is zoned commercial. The industrial mill use is grandfathered, city Planning and Zoning Department officials say.
Mayor Ray Miller does not believe the city will have to make cuts because of reduced income, but the city may have to make changes.
"I think at this time we'll have to absorb it," said Miller, who hopes somebody will purchase the land soon.