The Vancouver City Council has approved the Port of Vancouver’s Terminal 1 Waterfront Development master plan. The council voted unanimously in favor of the plan during its June 19 meeting.
The master plan, which envisions a public marketplace, hotel, commercial and retail space, dock access and more at Port-owned property along Columbia Street, now moves on to the Washington State Department of Ecology for review and decisions on shoreline permitting.
“[The master plan] is the first step of a long journey, and it’s going to take a lot of work and continued advocacy,” said City Councilmember Jack Burkman. “I’m confident it’s in good hands with our port because this is the kind of work that you do. You don’t do short-term investments, you do long-term.”
At full build-out, according to the port, Terminal 1 will include nearly 950,000 square feet of new mixed-use development, create 800 new jobs, drive construction investment of more than $200 million and generate nearly $93 million in state and local taxes over a 25-year period.
“This is an exciting project,” said port CEO Julianna Marler in a press release. “It’s a different kind of development than we typically do, but it still achieves the port’s mission of economic benefit to the community. The jobs, tax dollars and activity down at the waterfront will complement our beautiful downtown and create a ripple effect of benefit in the region.
“We appreciate the City Council’s support of Terminal 1 and look forward to working together to build a community resource and destination we can all be proud of,” she added.
The master plan has received broad support from several downtown and economic organizations including the Columbia River Economic Development Council, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce (GVCC), Identity Clark County, Vancouver’s Downtown Association (VDA), Vancouver Farmers Market and Visit Vancouver USA.
“It’s going to be really exciting to see this develop into what will be its future,” said Lee Rafferty, VDA executive director. “There’s a very strong and wonderful history there, but the future’s very bright, as well, and I think Vancouver’s downtown is going to be much better off because we have strong partners at the port.”
