Soap Lake council gets master plan

Blueprints for revitalizing downtown approved

SOAP LAKE — The consulting team of Arai, Jackson, Ellison, and Murakami has concluded its study and turned in a master plan to revitalize the city's downtown.

The master plan, a 100-page book with a thorough study of the past, present and what could be the future of the city's core area, was approved by city council Wednesday, with Mayor Wayne Hovde praising the consultants' work as "excellent."

The study included not just a look at revitalizing the economy but also the design of the central zone, changing its landscape, from its sidewalks, the buildings' facades and lake access to working on vegetation, a visitors' center, trails around the lake and a spa.

The book is the final part of the work by the consultants, who were paid with a $25,000 grant the city received last year. They will remain in contact with the city leaders, helping them find the money to put the master plan in action.

"That's the question that remains, how to finance it," Hovde said, adding that the revitalization will happen, but, it will be done a little at a time, as the money becomes available.

The consultants suggested a number of potential funding sources, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development programs, to the Washington State Arts Commission and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Hovde hinted that given the small Soap Lake budget, the city will likely seek grants over loans when it comes to funding the revitalization. Still, he remains optimistic, a feeling he said he shares with the rest of the Soap Lake Revitalization Team.

"There is a lot of energy," he said.

In other Soap Lake news, a nuisance ordinance has been approved by the city council.

The ordinance is meant to be implemented to clean up the entrance to town and the vacant lots throughout the city. Under the ordinance, restrictions will be applied to the storage of car hulks, refuse, garbage, and unused appliances and mattresses, among others.

This is not the first ordinance of its kind the city has ever had. It is however meant to strengthen the existing ordinance.

"It does have the teeth to make it work," Hovde said. The first notice of violation will be a verbal notice, the second one will be a written one.

The intent of the ordinance is to get as many people on board with cleaning the city up, Hovde added.

"We need their help," he said. "We need to get them to join forces with us cleaning (Soap Lake) up."