It's been a while since smelter workers crowded into Ruston taverns on payday to cash their checks. The Asarco copper smelter around which the community was built shut down nearly 20 years ago, leaving the town with 97 acres of waterfront space to develop, million-dollar views, a stock of quaint old houses on tree-lined streets, and 700-acre Point Defiance Park for a next-door neighbor.
But Ruston's long-expected transformation from a de facto company town to a high-end enclave has been slow to materialize, primarily because of the Asarco's legacy of arsenic contamination.

Now, after two decades of living in limbo between its blue-collar past and its Nordstrom future, the tiny town appears poised to take the next step.

Cleanup of the contaminated smelter site and surrounding land is nearing completion. And, in a controversial move, the Town Council has agreed to sell part of the old Ruston Elementary School property to a development group for construction of a complex with $300,000 to $700,000 condominiums. The project promises to further change the community's fabric, even as the sale shores up the town's finances.

Residents either support or loathe the project, but all agree it's a harbinger of things to come for a town that's already seen median income begin to rise at a faster rate than its neighbors.

"I've always said Ruston would be the Medina of Tacoma," Mayor Kim Wheeler said, referring to the upscale suburb of Seattle.

Predictably, not everyone in town embraces the change.

Opponents of the proposed condos say the project is too big and that the mayor pushed it on the town without following proper procedure. They worry that its distinction as the first major post-Asarco development sets a bad precedent for the town's ability to regulate its future.

"How are we going to keep the whole Asarco site from being this hideous ghetto of high-rise buildings that are so out of character with the town?" asks Bradley Huson, chairman of the town's planning commission.

Senior condos

The proposal from the Ruston Landing Group, a partnership managed by Tacoma developer Dan Simon, calls for building up to 60 two-bedroom condominiums aimed at "active senior citizens."

The group will pay $4.25 million for town-owned property behind the school, remodel the school for use as a town hall and municipal court and build a fire station on another corner of the school property. The town will give the current town hall building to the Ruston Landing Group to demolish in order to make way for a new residence.

The original drawings show five stories of living space on top of a one-story parking garage.

The design, created by Architects BCRA of Tacoma, envisioned 45 of the units in a building facing Commencement Bay. It included balconies that jut out toward the water and a roof-top terrace and recreation room. Walkways connected to another building closer to the school that would include the remaining 15 units.

Because of public outcry over the scale of the development, the architects are revising the plans and the partnership intends to unveil the new look during a town meeting scheduled for July 29.

Although the council has approved the sale of the school property, Wheeler says the town still has final approval of the building design and he noted, "We haven't said 'yes' yet."

Budget boost

The council will have a compelling reason to say 'yes' when the time comes: Ensuring the town government's survival.

When Asarco shut down the smelter in 1985 after 96 years, the clock started ticking on a financial crisis.

Within two years, tax revenue from Asarco dropped from $340,000 to just $12,000, according to research by Karen Pickett, a former town councilwoman who is now information coordinator for Asarco.

The town, which maintains its own police and fire departments, garbage service and electrical distribution system, managed to survive on reserves for nearly 20 years. But that cushion ended this year when Ruston borrowed $150,000 from its reserve fund to balance the 2004 budget, Wheeler said.

Ruston is now officially broke.

The condo deal, Wheeler said, will provide an infusion of cash that, if properly invested, will allow the town to live on interest for years to come and ensure its independence from neighboring Tacoma.

"What you've got to realize is that they're paying us $4.25 million for less than an acre of dirt," Wheeler said.

The mayor said he agrees with critics that a smaller project would have been preferable, but he doesn't believe the town could afford to accept anything less for its most valuable asset.

"For Ruston," Wheeler said, "$4 million is like $40 million for Tacoma."

Emotional debate

Debate over the proposal has been fierce, a reflection some say of the town's rough-and-tumble heritage.

Critics question everything from Wheeler's relationship with the Ruston Landing Group and the process the town used to select the partnership to developer Simon's résumé and the details of the agreement.

"The whole thing is so shady," said resident Roberto Gonzalez. "It's so upsetting to us."

Some opponents favored an alternative developer; others advocated not selling the property.

Emotions ran so high during the town meeting at which council members voted on the property sale to the Ruston Landing Group that opponents of the project were reportedly called "terrorists."

Councilwoman Mary Joyce, who voted against the sale, defended the critics.

"They were just people who have the audacity to question it," Joyce said.

One council member, Don Senecal, resigned his seat rather than cast a vote amid the superheated atmosphere.

Senecal feared that he might be sued over his vote and possibly lose his home if he was found personally liable for any wrongdoing.

Wheeler, who doesn't normally vote with the five-member council, broke a 2-2 deadlock by casting the deciding vote in favor of the sale.

Shortly afterward, Senecal asked to be reappointed and the council agreed to put him back in office.

Small-town politics

Wheeler chalks up the fury to small-town politics while defending himself from charges that he was working with Simon from the beginning to ensure that the Ruston Landing Group was selected.

It was only after the council approved of the project, Wheeler said, that he began negotiating with the Ruston Landing Group over the specifics of the deal. He said he does not work for the partnership, an allegation he dismisses as "rumor," and he believes the public has been properly informed of the unfolding arrangement.

Since the council's vote authorizing the sale of the school property, however, Wheeler said he has developed a good relationship with the investors in the Ruston Landing Group and it's possible that he could work with them in a business capacity at some point, a move he expects would provide fuel for his detractors.

Critics also point to some of Simon's previous development projects, including one on American Lake in Lakewood that filed for bankruptcy. They question whether town officials looked into the background of the investment group members and they worry that Ruston taxpayers could pay if the project falls through.

Simon declined to discuss the project with The News Tribune, saying anything he said could fuel the controversy.

Mayor Wheeler, however, is willing to defend Simon and the rest of the Ruston Landing Group.

"I feel comfortable about Dan Simon," said Wheeler.

Temporary reprieve

In a few years, officials predict they will see millions of dollars worth of development, both along the water and on "stack hill," the former site of the giant smokestack that defined the community for generations.

Hotels, shops and restaurants, in addition to high-end condominiums and homes, will likely be built on top of land that was home to the smelter for the better part of a century.

Until then, the town's mayor and two of the five council members want to bridge the gap with a condominium development that points the way to a future that some don't relish.

Pickett, who came to the community in 1985 - the same year the smelter closed - said she understands both sides of the debate.

"It's important to hold on to our heritage, that background that gives us some spunk and the ability to get down and fight," she said. "But it's inevitable that the town won't stay blue-collar forever."

Jason Hagey: 253-597-8542; jason.hagey@thenewstribune.com