Lewiston port officials turn cold shoulder to proposed auto scrap yard, Lewiston Tribune, October 29, 2015
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A business that would sell used parts from defunct cars likely won’t find a home near the city of Lewiston’s transfer station.
Port of Lewiston Manager David Doeringsfeld is going to tell Jeff Dietrich, who’s pushing the idea, that port commissioners don’t believe the concept is the best fit for the proposed North Lewiston site.
That action follows a meeting Wednesday at which all three commissioners and Doeringsfeld raised questions about the plan. No vote was taken on the measure.
Dietrich spoke at a September port meeting. Doeringsfeld acknowledged that pictures of similar ventures show how fences 6 to 8 feet in height obscure the use from the street on flat ground, and that appropriate industrial sites are scarce.
The challenge in Lewiston, Doeringsfeld said, is that the community is built at a variety of elevations.
“From Pioneer Park, it’s going to be visible,” he said. “That would be in the viewscape.”
Another consideration, Port Commission President Mike Thomason said, should be future tenants of the nearby site that EKO Compost is vacating at the end of the year. Dietrich’s plan may not mesh with two undisclosed businesses Valley Vision is working with, he said, which have viewed the EKO site and may bring 20 to 30 jobs each.
Port Commissioners Mary Hasenoehrl and Jerry Klemm agreed.
“That space up there has greater potential,” Hasenoehrl said.
In other business, the port commissioners approved a franchise agreement with the city of Lewiston. The city will receive 5 percent of gross revenue generated by a Port of Lewiston telecommunications network within the city limits. In exchange, the port will be allowed to place fiber-optic lines within city right of way. The port will pass that fee along to its customers within the Lewiston city limits, Doeringsfeld said.
The customers will be telecommunications companies, including those that sell Internet, cellphone and email services, which will all pay the same flat rate for capacity on the network.
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Williams may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2261.
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