Quincy-area recreation area project still uncertain
The fate of the proposed Bishop Recreation Area owned by the Port of Quincy is still to be determined, after various attempts to sell or develop it have run into roadblocks.
FILE PHOTO
QUINCY — The ultimate fate of Port of Quincy-owned property overlooking the Columbia River, originally intended for a recreation and wildlife viewing area, is still to be determined.
Port officials purchased about 90 acres in 2013, with the intention of developing the site for camping, along with picnic tables, a building that could be used for small events and other amenities. But Port Commissioner Patric Connelly said the plans didn’t work out, and so far, plans to sell it haven’t worked out either.
“We’re talking with one outfit that’s looking at (the property),” Connelly said.
The Bishop recreation area — named for the last owner prior to the port — includes a trailhead for access to the Ancient Lakes area, along with connections to trails leading south from the Quincy Lakes unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area. Port Commissioner Curt Morris said in an earlier interview that the spot allows hikers to see the remains of geological events that shaped the landscape during the last Ice Age, called the Missoula Floods.
What is now Central Washington was downstream from a river that periodically became a lake when ice built up across the river’s course and created a dam. The water pressure eventually broke the dam and sent the entire lake downstream. The cycle repeated itself multiple times over the course of millions of years.
“There are some pretty incredible views,” Morris said. “It’s one of the few places where you can see the results of the Missoula Floods. People come from all over the world to see it.”
The original plan included campsites and RV hookups as well as accommodation for horses and a small event venue. That plan had to be abandoned in 2023, when port officials got some estimates on development costs.
Developing a well to provide water was in excess of the port’s budget; estimates for constructing the event building pushed the price even higher. That made it cost-prohibitive, Morris said.
Port commissioners were working on a plan that involved a third party and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, with the eventual result of the Bishop property going into WDFW ownership. But that fell through, Connelly said.
“It wasn’t going to work out the way we were thinking,” he said.
The possible sale of another piece of port property, this one on the west side of Quincy, is pending, Connelly said.
“We have a couple of offers on it right now,” he said.
Two different companies have signed letters of intent, he said.
Port officials are in the process of subdividing the property, along Road R Northwest, he said, as well as other city zoning requirements.