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The Port of Portland this week withdrew its consent for city annexation of 300 acres of West Hayden Island as a future marine terminal site, blaming the city for demands that would make the development impossible.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Mayor Charlie Hales, Port of Portland Executive Director Bill Wyatt chided the city’s Planning and Sustainability Commission for placing additional mitigation demands on the Port for application to the site. At build-out, the project would have created 900 jobs and stimulated $100 million in Port investment and $500 million by the terminal developers, according to the letter.

Wyatt claimed that the PSC’s mitigation recommendations would put the development cost at about double market value and would obligate the Port to follow long state and federal permitting processes when it opted to develop around the waterfront.

“This type of approach does not give us any assurance that we’ll have the opportunity to actually develop the property once annexation occurs,” Wyatt wrote. “In order to capture the opportunities available at West Hayden Island – both environmental and commercial – the Port needs the city as a willing partner.”

Dana Haynes, spokesman for Hales, said the PSC got it right with the mitigation recommendations. Further conversations about future employment in the city will take place through the Comprehensive Plan process, he said.

“This whole thing – that it is the environment vs. jobs – the mayor doesn’t buy that,” Haynes said. “At build-out, it’s 900 jobs. That’s a lot of jobs, but it’s not the end-all be-all in a city with 370,000 jobs.”