Othello debates golf course water request
Council considers providing service to nearby development
OTHELLO — The city council will have to decide next month whether or not to provide city water to a golf course addition in nearby unincorporated Adams County.
At their meeting Monday, the council heard the request from developers asking for 230,000 gallons of water per day if provided with the city's service. Othello Public Works Director Dick Lee told council members the city does have enough water to supply the development, but warned of a worst-case scenario in which the city could be faced with a water deficit on rare occasions.
Developers of the project, which would add approximately 366 lots to the Othello Golf Course expansion near Bench Road West, are asking the council for a written letter of commitment to provide water in order for their project to move forward with financing.
Lee said based upon the current historical water usage within the city, there is enough water to supply the request and the city should have no problem meeting that request in addition to a water contract by McCain Foods. The city currently provides water service when needed to the McCain Foods plant, for use when the company's own pumps go down or for fire suppression.
One of the city's wells, however, is not in great shape. Lee advised it is in need of rehabilitation. In a worst-case scenario situation, the city would be able to produce 8,100 gallons per minute while using 8,593 gallons per minute, leaving a deficit of nearly 500 gallons.
Lee told council members a water deficiency would not happen very often, and when it would, it wouldn't last long. He added the city does have additional water rights available for the expansion of city wells to help alleviate the problem.
Councilman Ken Caylor said during discussion that the city can't stop development, so it should get wells drilled with the water rights they have.
Mayor Shannon McKay agreed.
"We're going to see it coming, and it's our job to have the foresight to have another well on-line when it comes," McKay said. "It looks like there's a need now, so we need to talk about it."
Discussion at Monday's meeting also centered around providing water storage and the developer's obligation to pay the cost of water lines. Keith Graham, one of the developers of the project, told the council Monday that the idea of water storage would be agreeable to the development.
"This all isn't going to happen next year," McKay said. " It's going to take you five years to put houses on all of those 366 lots."
City Administrator Ehman Sheldon told council members the city does have capacity for providing the water, and showed documentation that based upon annual revenues from water provided directly to the development, the city would be able to buy a new well in approximately seven and a half years.
Sheldon said because of the city's existing water system and its current rate of growth, the council now has to determine whether to provide the water and whether to provide directly to the development or to a developer-created water district.
After Monday's meeting, Sheldon and city attorney Jim Whitaker said if water was provided directly to the development, landowners would likely have to sign a contract that would provide provisions for annexation into the city when the development became contiguous within the city limits.
McKay said the council would discuss the water proposal over the next few weeks, and would make a decision at their first regular meeting in March.
Also at Monday's meeting:
? The council unanimously approved to sign two contracts with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin to provide youth and summer programs in Othello in 2006. Under the two contracts, the city will pay a total of $30,000 to the Boys and Girls Club.
? Council members unanimously agreed to enter into an agreement for Othello representation in the Moses Lake Regional Tactical Response Team.