Port of Quincy to consider options for Bishop Rec Area

QUINCY — Port of Quincy commissioners will get an updated title for a piece of port-owned property south of town, which might — or might not — be the first step to declaring the land as surplus.

Commission chair Curt Morris said Thursday that commissioners are considering options for the Bishop Recreation Area because the port’s own plans to develop it haven’t worked out as hoped.

The original plan envisioned that the site would be developed for camping, along with an event building, picnic tables and other amenities. But Morris said that option might not be economically feasible.

The property is about 10 miles south of Crescent Bar and overlooks the Columbia River. Morris said it provides a good look at some of the geological activity that shaped the Quincy area.

Large sections of the Columbia Basin, including the Quincy area, were covered by floodwaters unleashed during the Ice Age, when ice dams in what is now Montana periodically broke. Traces of those floods are visible from the property, Morris said.

The property doesn’t have a water source, and Morris said port officials got permission from the Washington Department of Ecology to drill a test well, which had the potential to be converted into a permanent well.

“The cost of doing the water upgrades is about $150,000,” Morris said.

There was a preliminary design for the event building also.

“But that (estimated construction cost) was in the neighborhood of a million dollars,” he said.

That made the project cost-prohibitive for the port.

“It was a bit of a shock to us, too,” Morris said during the regular port meeting Wednesday.

Commissioners approved getting an updated title to the property at Wednesday’s meeting. Morris said they wanted to make sure there was a current record of the property, including elements like easements.

From there, port commissioners have the option to sell the property, and tentatively have decided to remove it from the port’s industrial development district before putting it on the market. That changes the rules required to sell the land.

A second option is to partner with another agency to develop the land as a recreation center.

“That would be the best, to team up with somebody that has our vision,” Morris said.

Commissioners could work with a partner on a scaled-down version of the original project, he said, sell the land outright or decide not to sell.

The permit to drill the well expires in December 2024, Morris said, so the commission has time to consider its options.

“I still like it as a recreation area,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.