Tideline Construction is offering to do $710,000 worth of clearing and site work in exchange for about 10 acres of borough land at the southern end of the old 6-Mile mill property.
A Juneau-based contractor and scrap metal recycler wants to expand its operations in Wrangell. It has offered the borough about $700,000 in site work in exchange for almost 10 acres of land at the former 6-Mile mill site.
Tideline Construction, a sister company of Channel Construction, in January offered the borough $250,000 for the acreage, but submitted a new proposal last month for an extensive cleanup of the mill property in exchange for the acreage it wants at the southern end of the site.
"This proposal represents an alternative to our previous offer and focuses on a cleanup project that will benefit both parties, while advancing economic opportunities in Wrangell," the company said in its letter to the borough.
The borough assembly will consider the latest offer at its May 13 meeting, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said last week. The administration supports the plan, Villarma said. "We're creating shared value."
The port commission, planning and zoning commission and economic development board have all voted to recommend approval of the work-for-land offer.
The work would increase the value of the land, Economic Development Director Kate Thomas told the planning and zoning commission on April 10. The mill site "is not marketable in its current condition."
Jillian Privett at the April 1 economic development board meeting called the company's offer "a big investment in our community."
The borough purchased the land in 2022 for $2.5 million, looking to sell or lease the site for commercial use.
The borough received a proposal last December from a Washington-state developer to build a biomass boiler to heat greenhouses for growing produce - which the developer has not followed up on. Meanwhile, Channel Construction's existing short-term lease for its scrap metal operation is the only business use of the property.
Channel collects scrap metal from across Southeast Alaska and hauls it by barge to the Seattle area for recycling.
In its new offer, Tideline Construction said it would "provide the necessary equipment, materials and labor" for the extensive cleanup.
The work would include removing the sawdust pile left from mill operations at the site, the alder and brush on the northern side of the property, the log boom sticks left on the property, any remaining concrete footings and foundations left over from mill operations, and any equipment or other debris at the site.
"It'd be nice to get that pile out of there," Thomas said of the mix of mostly sawdust and some wood chips. The pile is outside the area that Tideline wants to develop for its own use.
The company also would demolish the buildings that remain on the property, remove the railcars that were used as bulkheads at the waterfront site and grade the entire area.
"Tideline Construction estimates the value of this cleanup project to be $710,000. We are committed to completing the work in exchange for the property, regardless of whether the value of the property is lower or higher than the cleanup costs."
Tideline would expand the scrap metal collection and shipping operation currently managed by Channel Construction and construct a shop for equipment maintenance and storage.
As it builds up its operations at the former mill site, it would grow into a heavy equipment repair shop, Tideline wrote to the borough. "This development will mean Tideline would base all equipment assets from Wrangell."
Tideline Construction is a family-owned and operated construction business and a sister company to Channel Construction, which has operated the scrap metal recycling and shipping operation at 6-Mile the past few years.
The company would terminate its lease with the borough for the area it uses for scrap metal operations if the deal to take ownership of the land goes through.
The borough's water and sewage lines do not serve the area that Tideline wants to develop at the southern end of the property - the sawmill had maintained its own private water and sewage systems. Tideline has "expressed a willingness" to fund or participate in a borough-funded extension of utility lines to the site, Thomas reported at the April 10 planning and zoning commission meeting.
Channel Construction has been a good tenant, Thomas said at the meeting. She referred to the company's work to remove at no cost to the borough "the mountain of tires" that had accumulated for years at the municipal trash station, and Channel's willingness to accept abandoned vehicles at no charge for removal and recycling.
"That's been a really great thing for cleaning up town," Thomas said of moving derelict cars and trucks off the island.
"We know the person and we know the need," she said of the work to clean up the mill site.
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