The Port of Centralia took the first steps in selling an undeveloped single-acre plot of land not far from the port’s office last week.
The Port of Centralia Board of Commissioners held a brief public hearing concerning the sale of the small plot of land owned by the port at 3621 Northpark Drive in Centralia on Wednesday afternoon.
The public hearing was the first order of business during the board’s regularly scheduled business meeting.
Later in the meeting, the board also approved the fact finding completed on the property presented by Interim Executive Director Amy Graber. According to Graber, a finding of fact is used to confirm that the sale of property fits with the port’s goals.
Graber read the finding aloud during the meeting, which stated that the sale is in line with the port’s mission, follows its master plan and “will create employment opportunities, increase tax base and further development of Industrial Development District No. 1.”
According to Graber, with the approval of the fact finding process, the port will now move forward with receiving two value appraisals for the plot of land being posted for sale and use the median value between the two appraisals as the posted sale price for the land.
No members of the public gave public testimony during the hearing on the sale of the land.
One local, Jan Banevich, asked if there was more information about the piece of land being put up for sale, to which Graber responded that the hearing was a first step to begin the process of posting the land for sale. At this time, no intended buyer for the 1-acre plot has been made public and no information about what it will be used for is available.
“This is the first step in the process, allowing the port to begin negotiations with a potential customer,” Graber said.
The plot being posted for sale is roughly one block away from the Port of Centralia main office along Galvin Road. It sits between Reichert’s Meat Distribution to the west and the U.S. Postal Service Centralia Carrier Annex to the east.
