Ports look at 3 sites besides Maytown

2 new possibilities for rail logistics center proposed in Thurston County

By Kelly Kearsley and Jim Szymanski | The News Tribune and The Olympian • Published January 29, 2008

Two new Thurston County sites and one in Lewis County are being studied for a multimillion dollar rail logistics center. The sites are in addition to a Maytown site under consideration for the development by the ports of Tacoma and Olympia.

The Tacoma port owns the Maytown site, for which it paid $22 million in 2006, but does not own any of the other sites.

On Monday, Tacoma officials released a study of three other sites they consider workable for such a cargo facility, which has drawn strong opposition from hundreds of Maytown-area residents.

The ports will present their findings at a public meeting beginning at 6 Thursday night at the Worthington Center at Saint Martin's University.

Final development sites under consideration are:

• Maytown: A BNSF Railway track runs along the east side of the 745-acre site and Tacoma Rail tracks cross the property. The site, two miles east of Interstate 5, used to be a munitions plant and is permitted for gravel mining. It's adjacent to property owned by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Beaver Creek is located along the southern border.

• Offut Lake site: This site adjacent to the Maytown site consists of 847 acres in Thurston County on the west side of Offut Lake, which is surrounded by residential development, according to the study. A part of the site also is permitted for gravel mining. The site is about six miles from I-5 and near BNSF and Tacoma Rail tracks. The Deschutes River crosses the northern portion of the site.

• Tenino site: About 1,057 acres in Thurston county. Some of the site also is permitted for gravel mining. The study notes that a ranch, a few homes and gravel pit structures border the site. It's about 1 mile from BNSF tracks and 5.5 miles east of I-5. Scatter Creek borders the southern and eastern portions.

• Chehalis site: About 1,207 acres in Lewis County. The site primarily is farmland and a few structures, with some surrounding rural residential development. A Port of Chehalis historic steam engine rail line accesses the site, and I-5 is four miles to the east. Stearns Creek and irrigation ditches are on the site.