Last week's West Seattle Herald article "Port Cool on condos near Terminal 5" (Oct. 10) may have left the wrong impression with West Seattleites about the proposal by Sound Legacy Partners to develop the former CEM site on Harbor Avenue in Alki.

This project is about much, much more than condos; it's about creating a valuable asset that fosters public access, local business development and job creation, and environmental best practices. As a life-long West Seattle resident, former longshoreman, and former Port of Seattle Commissioner, I have long hoped that the CEM site could be cleaned-up and developed into something special for our community. That's why I'm involved with this project.

We have an opportunity to turn what was once a city dump into a new jewel of mixed-use development and environmental best practices for our community. Closed as a city landfill in 1966, the CEM property went through clean-up in the early 1990's for the Terminal 5 expansion. However, the property is currently underutilized and sits largely dormant as a holding yard for idle truck chassis. More clean-up is needed for any other uses.

New remediation methods make it possible to further clean-up the CEM site and consider other development uses for this potential community asset. These types of "brownfield" projects are becoming increasingly popular, and doable, as cities seek to reclaim underutilized lands, clean-up contaminated sites, and control urban sprawl through better planning and development.

For example, in Spokane the Kendal Yards project will clean-up and develop the former contaminated industrial site along the Spokane River. When completed, this mixed-use space of retail businesses, artist lofts, open green spaces, hiking and biking trails, and public access to the River will be a significant asset for the City of Spokane and its residents.

We envision that the CEM site can become a similar asset for the West Seattle community. The CEM property can't be incorporated into Terminal 5 operations and, in the recent Industrial Lands Survey released by the City of Seattle, the site was singled- out as an area that is currently zoned as industrial land that should be re-evaluated because it is unsuitable for industrial use. Cleaning-up and developing the potential of the CEM property is at the heart of our proposal.

The Port of Seattle has initiated a proposal process to find a partner with technical expertise and development imagination to create the highest and best value for the CEM property for the Port and the West Seattle community. Contrary to what was reported in the West Seattle Herald article, which quotes a Port of Seattle employee who is no longer employed by the Port, the Port of Seattle Commissioners, and the Port CEO Tay Yoshitani, have not yet made a decision regarding this property or its best use.

While we are only in the initial stages of conceptualizing the development of this site, the Sound Legacy Partners team envisions that the CEM property could serve as a significant re-development opportunity for the West Seattle community. Among the project components under consideration are the following:

- Creating a mixed-use space that includes local retail and light industrial (possibly high-tech) businesses that would create well-paying jobs for our community;

- Building housing, including workforce housing, to meet the growing needs of working families in our community;

- Anchoring the site plan in open green spaces and hiking and biking trails that extend the Alki trail system to enhance waterfront and public access for recreational uses;

- Utilizing the latest design technology and incorporating land sculpting and green buffers to minimize impacts between industrial and non-industrial neighbors;

- Incorporating the latest planning for water and storm-water re-use to help promote the health of the Puget Sound;

- Connecting the CEM site to the planned water taxi at Pier 1/Pier 2 as the anchor of a significant community transit strategy for West Seattle commuters.

Over the past six months we have met and talked with dozens of West Seattle community leaders and neighborhood groups. There is a strong consensus that the CEM site should be cleaned-up and, while there are many different ideas about what to do with the site once it is cleaned-up, there is also a strong interest in exploring those potential opportunities.

Sound Legacy Partners invites the West Seattle community to join as in requesting that the Port of Seattle engages us in a discussion to determine the best possible uses for the CEM site. We are partners in the future of this potential community asset.

There are plenty of examples of successful and well-planned mixed-use developments near industrial areas in other cities that have created value and are assets to local neighborhoods. We can learn from those examples and create a similar asset with the CEM property for the West Seattle community. Let's not wait another 30 years to clean-up the CEM site. Let's start now down the path toward creating a space of value for the West Seattle community and the Port of Seattle.

Jack Block Sr. is a retired Port of Seattle commissioner and West Seattle resident who may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com