Pasco — Residents of the Franklin County doughnut hole turned in a petition to the county auditor’s office this morning to incorporate the area into its own city of Riverview.

Some proponents of the new city and petition gatherers handed a file folder of about 236 pages to county Auditor Matt Beaton.

Roger Lenk, a member of the Citizens for Lifestyle Preservation, estimates the group has gathered more than 900 signatures from residents of the county land surrounded by the city of Pasco’s boundaries. The petition is one of the steps necessary for the area’s residents to be able to vote on incorporating as their own city. Citizens for Lifestyle Preservation needs at least 268 of the registered voters in the Riverview area to sign the petition for the measure to make it onto the ballot, Beaton said. The group needs to have signatures of 10 percent of the 2,679 registered voters.

Beaton said his office will verify the signatures and determine whether the petition is sufficient within the 30-day deadline, as required by state law.

For the full story, see Thursday’s Tri-City Herald or go to www.tricityherald.com.