The Observer has a new game – Find the Surplus Property in Richland. Be the first to identify another piece and you will win a batch of homemade cookies.
The Richland City Council will approve the sale of 7,693 sq. ft. to the owner of the adjacent gas station at 999 Queensgate. The land is adjacent to the city’s trail next to Keene Rd.
“A future purchase and sale agreement will be advanced for Council consideration,” according to a coversheet in the council written by an anonymous staff person.
The Boys and Girls Club will lease an old fire station for a teen center.
The council meeting begins at 6 pm in the Richland City Hall on Swift Street. You can watch the meeting live from your couch on Cable Channel 192 or Richland City View. There are 22 items on the agenda but 18 are on the consent calendar that receives no discussion and one vote.
At the last city council meeting, for the first time in probably two years someone pulled an item off the calendar. Councilmember Theresa Richardson responded to her friend Gret’l Crawford’s complaint about the proposed increases in transit impact fees (TIFs). Richardson pulled the item concerning increases from the consent calendar. Crawford is Mayor Pro tem of the Kennewick City Council as well as a developer. The council plans to discuss the increases at their next workshop meeting.
The TIFs aren’t the first time Richardson has helped Crawford with a “Richland problem.” Emails obtained by the Observer through a public record request show that when Crawford complained that Richland’s parking requirements were thwarting her son’s efforts to locate a second restaurant in a complex in Queensgate, Richardson had city staff members standing on their heads trying to help and to prove that Richland’s parking requirements were no more onerous than Kennewick’s or Pasco’s. According to the emails, the three cities have the same restaurant parking requirements.
The city’s new website for agendas has a good search feature so the Observer is no longer providing page numbers for the packet.
There are no presentations or public hearings so the meeting will begin with
Public Comments – You have two minutes to say what you want. If you have a question, ask for an answer as soon as possible.
Consent Calendar
1, Approval of the minutes for the June 6 meeting.
2,Some speed limits will change. The Observer asked the city manager for a key to the marks on the list of speed limit changes but received no response. For instance, what is the difference between 40 in black and 40 in blue and underlined? I would advise readers to check it out. Not that you have any input but at least you’ll know if there has been a change on your street.
3. Parking is also amended. Put your street name in the “Search” in the upper left corner.
Residents of Broadmoor near Claybell Park are the big winners in the parking and speed limit lottery. They may now have the only full-time 20-mph speed limit in Richland. And, they got what they wanted with no parking on both sides of the street next to Claybell Park as well.
The Meadow Springs area has more city councilmembers than any section of the city, three, down from four when Michael Alvarez was on the Council.
In addition, parking on the street is restricted on McMurray to allow for a bicycle lane.
4, The city will rezone 19.47 acres located along Bermuda Road from agriculture to medium density residential (R-2S). A hearing was held on June 6.
5, Amending the 2023 budget to account for acquired grant funding.
6. Tapteal 1 Booster Pump Station Project will provide potable water service. West Richland will pay $1,160,000 of the costs (20%).
7. Wholesale Water Service Agreement with the City of West Richland which will raise their water rate. The projected revenue increase from the amended service rate is approximately $140,000 annually based on the past two years of water usage.
8. Awarding a bid for $549,386.83 to Watts Construction, Inc. for the Vantage Highway Pathway – Phase 2 Project
9. Adoption a Vision Zero Goal with respect to Roadway Fatalities and Serious Injuries on Richland City Streets. The USDOT makes adoption of a Vision Zero goal a requirement for agencies seeking funding under the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. No adoption, no money.
10. Authorizing a grant application to USDOT for funding for a safe roaders program. Comprehensive Safety Action Plan-identified projects are currently projected at a cost of $27,350,000. Many of these projects have either been or will be incorporated into the City’s Streets Capital Improvement Program. The grant application, if awarded, would provide funding between $2,500,000 and $5,000,000 depending on the final award amount.
11. Authorizing a loan application to WSDOC for public works construction
12. Authorizing a third amendment to the Consultant Agreement with Keller Associates, Inc. for $183,100 for the Tapteal Booster Pump Station Upgrade and Kennedy Water Main Projects.
13. Authorizing award to Palouse Power, LLC for $857,111 for Airport Area Boring and Cable Replacement
14. Declaring surplus 7,693 sq. ft. at 999 Queensgate.
15. Authorizing an agreement with Rogers Surveying Inc, and HLA Engineering and land surveying for surveying services, not to exceed $90,000 for the two.
16. Rejecting all bids for the West Village Park – Phase 1 – SPVV Landscape Architects developed a master plan for West Village Park. The low bid of $3,262,808.77 exceeded estimates so back to the drawing board.
17. Authorizing a $100,000 consultant agreement with Granicus Experience Group (GXG) for website content strategy and governance services
18. All the May checks are listed.
Items of Business
19. Authorizing an agreement with West Richland for Badger Mt. South Traffic Impact mitigation. Richland will pay West Richland $1,345,000 out of developers traffic impact fees to pay for traffic problems in West Richland due to development at Badger Mt. South.
20. The 1958 fire station located at 1900 Jadwin will be declared surplus and leased to the Boys and Girls Club for a teen center.
21, If Richland wants to receive its share of the payout from the Sachler family’s oxycodone pushing business, it must establish an Opioid Abatement Council. The Greater Columbia Behavioral Health LLC, the name given to the new mental health center being created in the Tri-Cities, will be the administrative agency.
22. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Utility Billing Update. Tune for the staff’s description of “steps taken to improve the customer experience.”
City Manager and city council blah, blah, blah