The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners has awarded $200,000 in grant money to the Port of Kalama from the Rural County Public Facility Funds. The Board has developed this program to make funds available for economic development, which the port will be utilizing for a future building in the Kalama River Industrial Park, and improving the waterfront to attract tourism.
The grant funds will be divided up in two projects, with $150,000 of the money going towards the construction of a new 45,200-square-foot building in the Kalama River Industrial Park. The structure will be designed to house a manufacturing, distribution or warehousing company. This is the fifth building for the light industrial park. The Port is also looking into the design of a sixth building to continue the build-out of the park.
The remaining $50,000 will be used to make improvements on a waterfront site south of the Kalama Marina, which could include road revisions, parking and landscaping. The port believes this location has the potential to attract a restaurant, hotel and/or small conference center in the future and believes obtaining these funds is a necessary step to begin attracting such an amenity to the waterfront.
Cowlitz County is the recipient of rural county public facility funds, and these funds may be used to finance public facilities serving economic purposes in rural counties. Projects were submitted in May and were awarded on July 12. The Board of Commissioners was able to award between $1 million and $1.7 million toward one or more projects in which funds are to be distributed in 2007 and 2008.
