The port’s plan was to sell a piece of the land — 35 acres — to Simpson Timber, a Tacoma company with plans to build a new sawmill at a time when homes were selling fast and lumber prices were high.

A year from now, the Port of Longview could buy back a 35-acre parcel of land sold off in a controversial $2.156 million deal with Tacoma-based Simpson Timber in December 2005. The key word, though, ...