Development at Othello Port intersection pushing forward - slowly

OTHELLO — Port of Othello Executive Director Chris Faix provided an update on the port’s progress in finding funding for a roundabout at the intersection of State Route 26 and South 14th Avenue, as well as their contract negotiations with Meritage Companies.

The port is looking to find funding to install the roundabout after discovering that the intersection is not slated for one through the Washington Department of Transportation. Faix said the port is in the beginning stages of a traffic impact analysis, along with its other efforts to find grants. The roundabout is an important factor in the potential housing and commercial development of 75 acres of annexed land southwest of the SR 26-14th Avenue intersection by Meritage Companies.

“We're helping (Meritage) look at grant ideas. Kyle (Niehenke) with Adams County Development Council, he's looking into stuff,” Faix said. “We've contacted our legislators, we've been in contact with DOT. It's a slow process, but I mean, I feel like we're doing as much as we can at the moment.”

Faix said the port has met with the city about partnering on installing the roundabout. Faix said the city is willing to help, but can’t provide any assistance until later in the project.
The port commissioners approved a 90-day extension to the port’s contract with Meritage in March. The contract holds the land for Meritage’s eventual purchase and prevents the port from selling the land to another buyer. Meritage President Jack Barrett has requested a longer extension.

“We're still hammering out a contract extension. (Barrett) wants a couple of years, and we're not excited about tying it up for two more years and waiting to see,” Faix said. “Now we're kind of playing that back-and-forth game, because he obviously doesn’t want to do as much as we want, and we don't want to give it for as little as he wants.”

The port has until the end of the 90-day extension, June 25, to increase the extension’s length. Faix said the port can continue to work with Barrett after the time elapses, it just would allow the port to entertain other offers on the land if they come in.

“We're hoping to have something done here by our next meeting,” Faix said. “But I think I'm going to end up going back to my commissioners with what (Barrett is) saying at that time and see if they want to concede a little bit more because he's not really wanting to give too much.”

Faix said Barret does not want to put any more money into the project.  

“I get his point. I mean, he is spending money,” Faix said. “It may not be to us or in our pocket, but he's spending money on the project, and my commissioners appreciate that, but if we're going to tie it up and not be able to sell it to anybody else for a year or 18 months or two years, we kind of need at least a little more skin in the game.”

Faix emphasized the roundabout’s importance.

“If the roundabout was already set, I think things would be a lot easier, a lot smoother,” he said. “I think (Barrett) would be more willing to do a little more.”

Faix said Meritage is concerned that the roundabout installation could take too long to be practical for the development

A traffic impact analysis will be required for any grants or state funding the port applies for to install the roundabout, Faix said.

“We are anxious to move forward, but we have to do it in a certain order, so we are getting that TIA done,” he said. “We did talk to our engineers about (it). We started the process of that — we still have to decide who is going to pay for it, ultimately, for the study. We're starting at the beginning stages of it to find out basically what the study is going to cost … That's the point we're at now, and we're trying to be as proactive as we can.”

    Meritage Companies President Jack Barrett stands in front of preliminary designs for the potential development on the south edge of Othello, as Port of Othello staff sit and listen to Barrett during a regular port meeting.