Published April 4, 2010
By Kristi Pihl, Tri-City Herald staff writer
Pasco is taking a hands-on approach to downtown after taking a back seat on the effort for more than a decade.
Pasco City Council decided to create an organization to pursue downtown revitalization at the Saturday biennial retreat.
Some of downtown has transformed on its own, said City Manager Gary Crutchfield. But, “We believe the laissez-faire approach has been tried,” he said.
Pasco Downtown Development Association has led recent revitalization efforts. But Councilman Al Yenney said the association hasn’t delivered on promises it made three years ago.
Columbia Basin College, the Pasco Downtown Development Association and the city are partnering on a facade improvement program, where seven downtown businesses will receive financial support for remodels and education and business plan aid from CBC.
Councilwoman Rebecca Francik said it’s the third downtown plan in 13 years. The other two are collecting dust.
“Having a plan isn’t enough,” she said. “It’s got to be more aggressive.”
The city could create a community renewal agency, which the council would appoint to create a community renewal plan and address physical and economic blights, said Rick White, city community and economic development director.
Pasco could also designate a city department or board to manage revitalization efforts, Crutchfield said.
Acting Mayor Matt Watkins said Pasco should bring in downtown stakeholders and facilitate a comprehensive plan that could include creating a new agency.
There would be some resistance to the city taking the lead on revitalization, Crutchfield said. Pasco would need to work with the other agencies, including the downtown association, to create an organizational structure that they could accept.
“It’s going to be slower than you would like,” he told the council.
The city should look into promoting the area as a Hispanic commercial district, Yenney said. But promoting it won’t help until parking is addressed, since during busy times, there isn’t parking.
“I really think the downtown could be a center for Hispanic business services,” Crutchfield said.
That could draw people from all over the region, especially on Sundays, which he said tends to be the main shopping day for Hispanic families.
Another council priority is tackling the city’s water rights shortage.
Pasco has borrowed water from the quad-cities water rights, which it owns jointly with Kennewick, Richland and West Richland, according to the council retreat packet. However, the city will need to pay that water back.
The city thought it had a commitment from the state Department of Ecology to solve the shortage, Crutchfield said. But that commitment seems to have eroded.
“We can’t grow without water rights,” he said.
Crutchfield said the worst thing that could happen would be a moratorium on any new development. And the new industrial development the city hopes to attract would also need water.
According to some, the city doesn’t have enough water rights for its current development, he said.
Resolving water rights could involve hiring an attorney, said Bob Alberts, city public works director.
And while curbside recycling didn’t make it to a council goal for the biennium, the city will consider adding the service. Sixty-three percent of those who responded to the city’s 2009 survey indicated they would support the program if it meant a $4 to $5 monthly charge.
The city will ask Basin Disposal Inc., which provides the city’s garbage service, to present a curbside proposal.
If the program was mandatory, support for the curbside recycling would be lower than the survey response, Yenney said. And an opt-in program would not work for the contractor.
There isn’t a market for the recyclable items being collected, Councilman Mike Garrison said.
Instead, the city should have more recycling collection centers around town, Yenney said.
Other council goals for 2010-11 include:
- Develop and implement a marketing strategy for the city’s industrial areas, including the Heritage Center, Foster Wells and the Highway 12 corridor
- Secure funding for a public safety building, including a police station and a municipal court
- Acquire funding for the Lewis Street overpass, a $31 million project that will replace the 70-year-old underpass
- Implement an emergency communication system plan
- Evaluate expanding the process water use facility
- Develop a plan with the state Department of Transportation to deal with Road 68 congestion
- Adopt a comprehensive sewer plan for the urban growth area
- Foster commercial development in Broadmoor area
- Apply city standards to the urban growth area
- Collaborate with other cities in the Mid-Columbia area to control gang activity
- Evaluate the affect of A Street interchange on the city’s urban growth boundaries and future development
- Implement the city’s rivershore plan to foster more shoreline use
- Continue to cooperate with neighboring cities on a regional center.
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