Port and DNR find mediation can work

The Port of Olympia and state Department of Natural Resources are poised to end their 18-year property dispute near Port Plaza on the north-city peninsula. An onlooker can be excused for thinking it’s about time.

But the issue was complicated. Just consider that an abandoned city street wound up owned by a port and then a privately owned restaurant and office building were erected on top of it. And two different governments were arguing for nearly two decades over who got how much rent from the development.

That’s more than an interesting story. It’s a snarl, and it’s more than tilting at windmills.

Under the agreement, DNR stands to receive $1.57 million over the next 30 years from leases the port holds with two tenants. DNR had tideland rights at the site, portions of which consisted of fill, according to port executive director Ed Galligan, who described it as the lone port parcel with that tideland issue.

Give credit to the work by retired Thurston County Superior Court judge Tom McPhee, but also to the lawyers advising the parties for understanding the value of mediation. McPhee oversaw the mediation sessions that produced the agreement. The settlement averts a lawsuit by DNR that would only waste tax dollars.

Under the agreement, rent collected from owners of Anthony’s Homeport restaurant and the Rants Group’s office building will be shared — with the state agency receiving about $35,500 a year.

State Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark has a chance to put this legal tempest in a bottle and cork it if he signs the agreement by April 5. The Port of Olympia’s commission approved the settlement this week.

One possible concern was brought up by Pat Rants, chief executive of the Rants Group, which has a 50-year lease with the port and a 30-year option to extend it. Rants told the commission the agreement could force the real estate management and development firm to deal with two public agencies now, though his company preferred to only work with the port.

If port lawyer Heather Burgess and commissioners are correct, the Rants lease won’t be affected.

The land has been in port hands since it purchased it from Georgia-Pacific in 1967. The property was an extension of Columbia Street until vacated by the city in 1924. In 1998, the port and state agency agreed to allow the two buildings to be erected on the property, but a scheme for payments was apparently never hammered out.

Under the agreement, the DNR would waive claims to back rent. This looks like a win all around.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Port and DNR find mediation can work."