Othello buys property for water treatment facility

OTHELLO — The new facility that will treat water from the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District system for use by Othello residents will be located along Lee Road. Othello City Council members approved the purchase of property for the project Monday. Othello Mayor Shawn Logan said the purchase was good for Othello, a big enough deal that he held a signing ceremony to highlight it. 

The city will pay $4.2 million for 77.12 acres between North Seventh and 14th avenues along Lee Road. The property belonged to the Othello School District, who traded land with Othello residents AJ and Jodi Ochoa, who then sold it to the city. 

“We started this process over a year and a half ago,” Logan said Tuesday. 

Council members discussed the purchase at the March 10 meeting but decided to delay a decision until the next meeting. At the March 10 meeting, council member Corey Everett objected that neither he nor the other council had sufficient time to study it, and he preferred to wait. On Monday, Logan said Everett was right. 

“I completely agree with the city council’s decision to table this,” Logan said. “I’ve learned to trust the city council because they’ve made good decisions over the years.” 

Logan said the property will be crucial to the city’s longstanding effort to reduce dependence on the aquifer that right now is the only source of supply. City officials have been working on the project for about nine years. 

The goal is to pump surface water from the canal during irrigation season, treat it, and then either use it immediately or pump it into the aquifer. Logan said he first talked to OSD officials a couple of years ago about buying the property, but district officials didn’t want to sell it. The district needed property for any possible future school construction, he said. 

“That’s when AJ and Jodi and I got together and we started talking about, ‘How could we make this work?’ Because (the Ochoa family) owned land that (OSD) could build on and they could develop, and the city needed this property for the water treatment plant,” Logan said. 

The contract included a provision allowing the Ochoas to buy five acres of the property within a specified time, and Everett suggested setting a minimum price equal to what the city paid for it. Council member John Lallas said that would ensure the city gets its money back if property values decline.  

AJ Ochoa said the purchase gives the city a place for its water treatment facility and provides land if OSD decides to build.  

“We wanted to do something for the community,” AJ Ochoa said. “This was great for the city and the school, so the community can grow.”  

The water treatment facility will take up about 24 acres, Logan said. City officials have plans for some, but not all, of the remaining property. 

“I can tell you that we are going to put our water treatment plant there; we’re going to build our dog shelter and a dog park,” Logan said.