Housing project status changed by Mattawa City Council
MATTAWA — With one condition, the Mattawa City Council agreed on Jan. 5 with the Washington Growers League that its planned farm worker housing project at the Taylor Orchards Development can be classified as a boarding house.
That decision changes how much the Grower’s League will have to pay for connecting to city services. The League left a previous Council meeting a price tag of $179,250.65, which busted its budget.
The Grower’s League said that the complex is not dormitory style housing. After reading the definition of a boarding house in the International Building Code, the city agreed.
However, there is a catch. The classification is based on an estimated use of one gallon of water per person per day. The city wants verification of the estimate, and the actual water usage would be reviewed after a year.
In other matters on Jan. 5, City Planner Darryl Piercy told the Council that the Jehovah’s Witness congregation is a seeking a conditional use permit to build a church Near Wilson Irrigation, north of Highway 243 and east of Road 24 SW.
Mike Meskimen of Gray & Osborne Engineering in Yakima made a presentation on the makeover of Government Way, which has been planned for more than a year. He present the project planning documents.
Meskimen said this would be a 10-20 year project and, at today’s figures could range from $1 million to $5.7 million. Meskimen said the current rating of Government Road is 86-90 out of 100.
“That means it’s still a very good road,” City Clerk Robin Newcomb said.
The main emphasis will be Boundary Avenue to Portage Avenue, Meskimen said. He said the engineers determined no signals are warranted for Boundary Avenue or Portage Avenue.
The Council will need to look at all of the input the citizens and engineers have offered. Some items discussed were street lights, benches, landscaping, garbage cans, a bike lane and a walking path. The road will be widened with a turn lane.
Funding can be applied for from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Transportation Improvement Board (TIB), and Surface Transportation Block Grant through the County. It was suggested that each Council member make a list of what their visions are, based on this information.
Mayor Scott Hyndman reported that Newcomb and Assistant City Clerk Anabel Martinez will be attending the three-day Bias Conference in February. The City uses Bias software for its record keeping.
Public Works Director Gary Crowder reported that the sewer plant has had a broken water line and several people in town have had their water meters freeze due to the extreme cold weather.
Crowder said letters need to be sent to those residents that are not cleaning the snow and ice off of the sidewalks in front of their houses. It is their responsibility to do so.
Crowder added that the Ellice and Columbia overlay project is complete.
The Council approved a consent agenda that included the Dec. 15 Council meeting minutes, a payroll of $42,402.19 and claims totaling $5,047.74.
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