ISP and VA facilities possible at Port of Lewiston

Feb. 29—Expansions of the Idaho State Police District 2 headquarters and a Veterans Affairs clinic are moving forward separately on Port of Lewiston properties.

Port of Lewiston commissioners recently voted to enter into negotiations to lease 4.4 acres for the ISP headquarters in a project that will be covered by state money. The site is immediately south of the Nez Perce County Jail and west of FedEx ground operations in Lewiston.

That decision came at a meeting where commissioners also approved hearing proposals at a March meeting from as many as four developers who may submit bids to construct a building for a new Veterans Affairs clinic.

All of the developers who have expressed interest in the project are looking at land next to Royal Plaza, overlooking Home Depot and Thain Road, said Port General Manager Scott Corbitt.

Both facilities would serve important public purposes in the community, Corbitt said.

ISP has outgrown its existing headquarters at 2700 Old North and South Highway, which like the proposed site are in North Lewiston, said ISP Capt. Richard Adamson.

Besides being too small, the building has issues such as having only two bathrooms, which is inadequate for a space where ISP holds training that's open to law enforcement agencies in the area, he said.

"We can only hold maybe 20 to 25 people in our training room because it's so small," Adamson said. "And because of the state rules, we can't even call our training room a training room because it doesn't have the bathroom capacity to accommodate that. So it is more of a briefing room."

The port land is a good fit for ISP for a number of reasons, such as its close proximity to U.S. Highway 95/12, he said.

The new facility would be 20,000 square feet on a single level, similar to one in Idaho Falls, for a staff of 34 employees in Nez Perce, Latah, Clearwater, Idaho and Lewis counties.

Among them are detectives who work on homicide and upper-level narcotics cases as well as troopers in all five counties, Adamson said.

Everyone's issued patrol cars and a lot of times they're in and out of service from their residences, he said.

The new Lewiston site would have a fenced parking area where law enforcement officers enter and exit the building along with space for the work of a branding staff that would relocate from downtown Lewiston.

From the port's perspective, the ISP project has pros and cons, Corbitt said.

Typically the port makes its holdings available to businesses that meet criteria such as bolstering the tax base or adding jobs, he said.

But the ISP expansion has other benefits, Corbitt said.

"It is a huge piece for obviously their future operations," he said. "We have always been a big supporter of law enforcement. This is a ... way for us to step up and do that in a very meaningful way."

And the lot is not one that has generated much interest from other potential tenants, even though it's been shown to a "good number of folks," he said.

Like ISP, the VA clinic may be constructed on what is now port land. The developers interested in the port land will present their ideas to port commissioners at a March meeting. The existing Lewiston VA clinic is at 1630 23rd Ave., Building 2, in Lewiston.

The VA is planning to move from the 7,000-square-foot clinic to one that will be 20,000 square feet and be open within two years, according to a preliminary time line, said Linda Wondra, a public affairs officer for the Walla Walla VA Medical Center in an email.

It will offer more of the services already available in Lewiston, she said.

"No additional services (will be) added at this time," Wondra said. "Current services include primary care outpatient services to include mental health, lab, pharmacy, telehealth, tele-retinal and women's health."

Typically the VA provides notice to those in a predefined area it is seeking a property or new location for a building, she said.

"It could be ground, a renovation or a new build," Wondra said.

In Lewiston, the VA is at a stage where developers will be submitting formal bids that will be reviewed by a Technical Evaluation Board team based on source selection criteria, she said.

The developer will lease the clinic building to the VA, Wondra said.

"We've outgrown the existing location and want to ensure we continue providing exceptional health care to the veterans in that area," she said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.