Special session may aid in rail acquisition

ROYAL CITY - Governor Jay Inslee called for a special session of the legislature last Thursday to deal with a not-yet-passed state budget, and that may be good for the Port of Royal Slope's railroad acquisition plan.

Sitting on the governor's desk as of Thursday was a bill passed by the House and Senate, with overwhelming votes, to transfer ownership of the Royal Slope Railroad from the Washington State Department of Transportation to the PORS.

Although the purpose of Inslee's callback is for addressing a budget stalemate between the House and Senate, other business may be conducted. So far, PORS Executive Director Cathy Potter said, there is no indication the governor won't sign the bill.

The bill would transfer ownership for five years or more. If the Port finds an operator, it will remain in control. However, if it can't, the line will revert back to the PORS.

To that end, the WSDOT sent two inspectors to the Royal Slope recently to inspect the rail line. The WSDOT needs to know its condition now because that is the condition it will expect if it's returned.

In other business before the PORS's board meeting last week, the Port bought a water line from Hiawatha Industrial Park tenant Jenks Brothers. It will allow the Port to deliver water to the north side of the park from the line it has on the south side.

The Port had been trying to install a line for that purpose, but the cost was prohibitive, Potter said. Jenks Brothers, which wanted the fire flow pressure of the PORS system for a fire hydrant, built the line itself.

The PORS bought the line for $43,000. Jenks will get its hydrant. It would have cost the PORS more than $100,000 to build the line, Potter said.

With the purchased line's reach, the Port is in a position to be able to serve the enterprises in Hiawatha. If they wish to hook up so they, too, can have fire flow pressure, the Port can build a new line parallel to that row of enterprises.

Potter said the Port has sent its application for expanding its water service area to the Water Conservancy Board. With two wells and pumping equipment at both, it can serve more than double what it serves now with potable water for food processing and fire flow pressure for fire protection.

"We'll know by the end of May if they approve it," Potter said. "Then it will have to go to the Department of Ecology."

Potter noted one new enterprise has leased an acre of land to set up a mobile home repair and sales operation. She said an irrigation sales and installation company is looking at purchasing nine acres.