Airway Heights plans to ask Legislature for $10 million

As the city of Airway Heights prepares to present $10 million agenda to the state Legislature for the 2019 session, staff is debating which projects in need of additional funding should be prioritized, and it looks like the city’s recreation complex may be put on the back burner.

For the last several months, city officials have discussed the possibility of requesting $2 million in Capital Budget funding to complete phase two of the Airway Heights Recreation Complex. This phase would have a second baseball/softball field, added lights to the existing multipurpose fields and included an additional 85 parking spaces.

However, after analyzing all potential projects, city staff is prepared to suggest that particular item be replaced, Airway Heights City Manager Albert Tripp said.

Instead, the city will likely request $5.5 million for the Highland Village project, part of the greater Fairchild Preservation and Community Empowerment Project. The project was created in 2012 and aims to reduce housing density in Fairchild Air Force Base’s Accident Potential Zone 2 (APZ) located at the end of its main runway.

Currently, that area is filled primarily mobile homes. Highland Village would be “an inclusionary subdivision with a range of different incomes” that would serve as alternative housing for people in that region, Tripp said. The development is to be relocated north of Highway 2 and serve more than 150 low to moderate-income households. Once those homes are built, residents of the APZ will be presented with other housing options.

The homes there currently predate the zoning regulations. When the county adopted those regulations in the 1990s, the homes were automatically out of compliance. The units have been there since the1950s.

The new housing would not be manufactured homes, but rather a combination of market-rate housing and homes built by Community Framework and Habitat for Humanity.

The city’s draft legislation says the project would move residents “due to the current substandard housing conditions, as well as the risk to their health and safety due to FAFB overflight operations.”

While the city still hopes to add to the recreation center’s sports fields eventually, it must be aware of which project is most likely to be approved, Tripp said.

“We have to ask which of those best aligns with the state’s goals,” Tripp said.

The city will also request about $3 million in transportation funding for a bypass route to relieve traffic on Highway 2. According to the draft legislative agenda, the bypass would establish a vital east/west connection through the city and accommodate growth of the Air Force base, local tribes and recent development like the Amazon Fulfillment Center. The city will work to find about $300,000 in design funds for the project in exchange for state funding for construction.

Finally, the city would present a $1.94 million request in tandem with the Washington State Department of Correction. This project would use state money to convert non-potable water from the Airway Heights Correction Center to reclaimed water.

The corrections center uses about 25 million gallons of water per year on irrigation alone — about 12 percent of the city’s entire summer water demand. Converting this amount to reclaimed use would make that volume available for drinking water for residents and immediately lesson the strain on the local potable water system.

This is particularly urgent considering the issues the city had last year, when the water supply was contaminated by chemicals.

The city also noted in the draft legislative agenda that it supports any legislation that would expand financing tools for military communities to encourage private economic development. According to city documents, these “military benefit zones” near armed forces installations would improve existing businesses in the area and support an overall quality of life for base personnel and their families.

The City Council discussed the draft legislative agenda at it Oct. 22 meeting and will be on the agenda for approval at its Nov. 5 meeting.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].