Landowner asks council for help to resolve property conundrum

BRIDGEPORT – “My greatest education in life was to be raised by a single mom in the latter days of the Great Depression,” Bridgeport resident Scott Wright said to members of the Bridgeport City Council. “and almost all of my clothes and treasures were made from the discards of other people.”

Wright, the visionary and industrious owner of the expansive Flour Tower residence that he renovated from the old Bridgeport flour mill, addressed the council at its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday, August 15.
Wright asked council members for their help to turn two parcels of property he owns and that he described as a negative value liability into a more usable space.

“If they were joined it would be a coveted place of real estate,” Wright said.

The parcel located on Atomic Way between 20th and 22nd streets along Columbia Boulevard, is currently blocked by a line of large boulders to prevent vehicles on Columbia from driving into a large depression on its north side near the bank of the Columbia River.

Scott said he understood that some were concerned about having future access to the river but emphasized that, in its current state, “there is no safe way to the river through Atomic Way other than through my property.”
Wright said he cannot allow such access because of liability concerns.
Wright proposed that the area of 12th Street and Jefferson Avenue, with the help of some brush cutting and cleanup would offer a “quick, safe access to the river if the city were interested in that.”

Wright said his interest was to convert two negative items into something positive that would offer greater value.  He added that he would go on record at the council meeting that if the merger was successful, he would offer to sell the joined parcels to any Bridgeport citizen at his cost and even help with the financing.

Council member Anthony Jenkins, who has been looking into Wright’s request, said the parcel would require significant backfill and other work to make the site usable but that he was still investigating all available options.

Wright estimated that it would take 50 truck/trailer loads of fill to bring the depression up to street level.

Council member Phil Lee agreed that the city should pursue a solution to make the Atomic Way parcels more useable. Lee agreed to join Jenkins on a committee to consider the issue further.

Wright and council members discussed options ranging from a property vacation, trade, purchase, appraisal, survey, and what precedent might be established for other city property owners.