Objectives include new and existing water projects, revamped public facilities, supporting a regional transportation benefit district.
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
After receiving comments at a Nov. 17 public hearing the Airway Heights City Council has narrowed a list of strategic goals it hopes to accomplish in the coming year.
City Manager Albert Tripp said the intent of the goals is to provide a framework for council actions in 2011. Comments and suggestions made by city residents will be used to finalize the list that, pending council adoption Dec. 6, will be tied to next year's budget.
The city has four major objectives next year: utilize/maximize reclaimed water, develop a new water source, build and maintain a reliable source of funding for street projects and consider new public facilities buildings.
The first goal is tied into completion of the city's wastewater treatment facility, scheduled to go online next August. City officials have long touted the facility as a way to eliminate sewer discharge to the Spokane River and dependence on the city of Spokane for sewer services. Tripp said the project will provide millions of gallons of treated water for use by industries across the West Plains, helping to ease concerns about the area's dwindling supply of underground freshwater.
“It will take the strain off of the aquifer and it allows us to be better stewards of our resources,” he said.
The second goal, developing new water sources, means drilling a new municipal well. Tripp said the city is still exploring site options for the well, but the location will likely be somewhere on 70 acres of land recently acquired from Spokane County near the Raceway Park.
The third objective, building and maintaining a reliable source of funding for street projects, pertains to the city's backing of a regional Transportation Benefit District. Spokane County Commissioners proposed the special-purpose tax district as a way for area communities to fund transportation improvements and maintenance projects through sources such as an annual vehicle license fee.
The proposed countywide TBD would be governed by the Spokane Regional Transportation Commission, which would allocate funds generated by a voter-approved fee. Thirty percent of new revenues would fund projects of “regional significance,” while the remaining 70 percent would fund local street projects in each jurisdiction based on population and road use.
Tripp said several Airway Heights residents have expressed support for the regional TBD as a reasonable way to resolve some of the city's street maintenance and repair needs.
The final objective for 2011 is to examine the possibility of new public facilities buildings that would house city hall, the community center and other departments in a central location. Tripp said the city would look at what funding is available and attempt to find tax-neutral or public/private partnerships to pay for the project with limited impact to taxpayers.
The set of goals was initiated during two workshops in July, where City Council members and management staff addressed mutual concerns and objectives. Each was interviewed separately by an outside consultant to gather input that, along with workshop discussions and public input, was used to formulate a draft list of nine objectives that was later tailored to four.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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