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City's wastewater treatment plant, crosswalk, parks will advance this October By RYAN LANCASTER Staff Reporter The Airway Heights City Council set the ball rolling last week on the second-phase of the new wastewater treatment plant and a safer pedestrian crossing on US Highway 2, both to begin construction in October. City manager Albert Tripp said the council rewarded a $26.8 million contract to AMCO General Contracting for Phase 1 B of the wastewater treatment project. Public works director Brian St. Clair said Phase 1 A of...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Members of the governance committee for the Eastern Washington State Veterans Cemetery met on April 1 for an update on the cemetery's design plans, and made a recommendation to the state director on veterans affairs which type of cemetery marker they want to use for burial plots. Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs director, John Lee, announced in March the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has asked project leaders and their hired design firm, JGM & Associates, to begin the...
By LaVERLE McCANDLESS Contributor Sunshine is welcome each and every day we have it. Slowly the mini-glaciers are melting which is great and the water is going into the ground. The amount of precipitation we have received since the big snow has been way under normal, which in turn leads all gardeners to think of ways to conserve on water. One of the first ways to conserve is to change from overhead sprinkling on all plantings to drip irrigation, lawns excluded. You would be to...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter During a Nov. 17 presentation at their regular meeting, Airway Heights City Council got an update on the status of the first phase of the city’s proposed water reclamation facility, a $44.5 million project that’s secured all funding for the first half of its initial phase of installation. Officials from Century West Engineering, the consulting firm that’s helped the city design the plant, reported that Phase 1A will go out for construction bids in spring 2009 and should begin construc...
By LaVERLE McCANDLESS Contributor Have you ever wondered where gardeners get their information? One of the most reliable ways is to get information from other gardeners in the same area about plants that really do grow in your area. Other ways are: Internet, catalogs, gardening books, garden club meetings, and television gardening programs. What do gardeners do when the gardens are put to bed? Oh, oh, I think I heard someone say, no more garden work for a while. You bet but...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Construction ended recently on the city of Spokane's 36-inch water transmission main along Craig Road and SR-902, and officials are proposing to provide the city of Medical Lake with service providing a number of conditions are met via an interlocal agreement. In a letter to Mayor John Higgins dated Oct. 14, Spokane Mayor Mary Vernor said pending an operational study of the city's water system, Spokane is prepared to accommodate the city's request for a wholesale seasonal supply of water if the...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Airway Heights City Council is taking steps to avoid water loss through lawn irrigation by adopting new restrictions prohibiting watering between the hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through the months of June through September. A resolution was passed on Sept. 15 to implement these new measures, which shall apply to any property receiving the city's water, public works director Bryan St. Claire explained. This includes residential, commercial and industrial properties, with exemptions for new...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter The city of Airway Heights received a $2.9 million water quality grant from Washington State Department of Ecology for its new wastewater treatment and reclamation project, which is currently awaiting construction. City officials were notified on Aug. 1 they were the recipients of this grant, which is the first allocation of a $5 million hardship grant that will go toward construction of the facility, to be located on a 75,000-acre plot south bounded by McFarlane Road on the south and 21st...
By DAVID TELLER Staff Reporter What started out as a routine maintenance project on a well, has resulted in burnt, tired looking landscaping at Eastern Washington University. EWU associate vice president of facilities and planning Shawn King said he thought it was simply a matter of fixing a well pump with a short turn around, but he quickly found out he was wrong. King said the problem surfaced when the maintenance department noticed a problem in pumping rates on well No. 1, which is next to Showalter Hall. “Our nor...
By DAVID TELLER Staff Reporter The staff and elected officiasl from city of Cheney addressed the public in a town hall meeting last Thursday, May 29. During the meeting, department heads from the city updated the public on what has been accomplished since the last meeting and what their plans are. Cheney Mayor Allan Gainer said economic development remains one of his primary goals for the city. He said the Cheney Merchant’s Association will be voting on their bylaws and one of the organization’s first projects is to get...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter A resolution implementing water use efficiency standards for the city of Airway Heights was approved by the City Council on May 19. The resolution is designed to reduce distribution system loses and consumption over the next two to six years. The resolution supports legislation under the state’s Water Use Efficiency (WUE) program, made effective in January 2007 by the state Department of Health, which promotes water conservation and establishes goals and measures addressing supply and dema...
By LaVERLE McCANDLESS Contributor What is happening in the world of gardening? A lot of new plant varieties and many of them are drought tolerant. Isn't this great news? Conserving water is on everyone's mind now and drought resistant plants are coming to the forefront. Drip irrigating is overtaking the sprinkler type watering. The greatest advantage of drip watering is you are not “watering the air” and loosing moisture due to evaporation, all the drips of the water go directly into the soil. However, no matter how hard you...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter The city of Spokane plans to construct a 36-inch water transmission main at Craig Road and State Highway 902 this summer to provide water to service areas as far as Fairchild Air Force Base’s east gate, with requests from city officials of both Medical Lake and Four Lakes to install water interties at the location. Medical Lake sent a letter to Spokane Mayor Mary Vernor earlier this year explaining the city’s interests in possibly obtaining water from the city during peak use months of the y...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter The Eastern Washington State Veterans Cemetery governing council met with officials from design firm JGM and Associates on March 5 at Spokane International Airport to review several site plans being proposed for a new state veterans cemetery, located west of Medical Lake that's expected to break ground in May 2009. In a public meeting following the design committee's discussion, council chairman Neal Sealock announced three of the six site plans reviewed were selected and will be forwarded to th...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Changes are being proposed to the city of Airway Heights' current zoning code that could affect how residents put up fences, how business can landscape their property and use signage. The current city code doesn't have separate regulations for resident and commercial zones when it comes to these, and other types of land use. Some references contained in sections of the code conflict with other allowances for different zones, and not always do code rules pertain to specific job requests. To...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter July Medical Lake Police Department hired three new reserve officers who officially began work on the force in June following completion of their field training through the Spokane Police Academy. Officers Alice Bush of Medical Lake, Matt Montgomery of Spokane Valley and Nicholas Provencha of Airway Heights all arrive at MLPD with previous experience or education background in the criminal justice field. State Route 902 from Medical Lake to the...
By LaVERLE McCANDLESS Contributor It is the time of the year when a lot of people are making and/or writing down their New Year Resolutions or telling others what they are going to do in 2008. I have given up long ago on such a thing as I would feel guilty when I would break a resolution. Since gardening is a passion, I like to try something new and/or different in the plant world and it is usually an herb of some type or another. Don's is the tomato family. You can call this...
By DAVID TELLER Staff Reporter Every gallon counts. The current water situation in Cheney is such that the water production from the city's seven operational wells isn't producing enough water to support the proposed developments. The city has already sunk a test bore and has enough positive results to build a new well. The existing wells can contribute more. During the last council meeting, the city approved more than $230,000 to CH2M Hill for engineering and construction administration service for wells No. 6 and 8. Not...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Residents who showed up to Medical Lake City Council's Nov. 20 meeting hoping for a final answer to the North Stanley rezone dispute left empty handed, except for an update that officials are working on changing the city's procedure of approving requests from the Planning Commission that will allow the opportunity for testimony at the council level. Citizens questioned when they should expect council's decision, given that the Planning Commission's decision to turn down A&K Development's...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Century West Engineering Corporation and Spokane GeoEngineers officials presented on Nov. 14 new design and landscape plans for a proposed water reclamation plant to be located in the city of Airway Heights by the year 2011. Proposed landscape plans provided by Sherry Pratt Van Voorhis for the site, which is located on a 75,000-acre plot south bound by McFarlane Road and 21st Avenue, will include substantial amounts of native and adapted plant material appropriately suited to the area's...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter A first violation gets a citizen a written warning. The second offense is a civil infraction with a fine of up to $250. The third offense counts as a misdemeanor, and could mean up to 90 days in jail, or a $1,000 fine. That's the order of penalties as determined by Medical Lake City Council members on Nov. 6 as part of a new city ordinance codifying previously voluntary water conservation measures. Council approved a first reading of Ordinance 981 that places restrictions on residential...
By DAVID TELLER Staff Reporter Much of the proposed development in Cheney hinges on the water issue and the new Well No. 8 shows signs of offering relief. Public works director Don MacDonald said that test bore results from the site reveal it merits further development toward a groundwater well. The ideal location for the well is between 290 to 455 feet below ground surface level. “There are several fracture zones in the basalt in this area that are conducive for the transmission of water through the basalt to the well h...
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Medical Lake's City Council passed an ordinance to extend its land use application moratorium for six more months on Oct. 16 following a public hearing on the issue. The moratorium currently prevents the city from accepting any new applications for long or short plats, rezones, subdivisions, lot line adjustments and binding site plans to properties within the city limits. Last April, the council enacted the measure to allow staff time to come up with new strategies to resolve the city's long-...
By DAVID TELLER Staff Reporter Doug Nixon does not approach his run for City Council Position No. 2 with a project or a pet peeve, but he does understand the priority the city is placing on economic and residential growth. He also believes in doing the right thing for the right reason. Since relocating to Cheney over eight years ago, he has thoroughly immersed himself in the community. He is a home and business owner, his adult children have also remained in Cheney, and his grandson is enrolled in the Cheney School District....
By CARA LORELLO Staff Reporter Administrators of the Airway Heights parks and Recreation Department have been busy the last two months in preparing their separation from the city's Public Works Department into their own, but things won't be official until January 2008. The City Council approved, on Oct. 1, five new parks, recreation and community services positions, which included department director and supervisor, recreation assistant, maintenance coordinator and parks...
