Pasco — Franklin County commissioners postponed today a decision on the incorporation petition for the proposed city of Riverview until Jan. 23.

Pasco city attorney Lee Kerr asked commissioners to dismiss the petition filed by Citizens for Lifestyle Preservation.

State law requires an area that is being considered for incorporation to be contiguous and have at least 3,000 residents, he said.

The proposed Riverview area doesn’t meet either requirement, he said. With Pasco’s recent annexation on Oct. 29 of part of the so-called doughnut hole, the area is in three separate pieces instead of two, and contains less than 3,000 residents, Kerr said.

Roger Lenk, with the citizens group, asked commissioners to postpone the hearing to give the citizens time to look at the population figures from the city of Pasco.

The group still believes there are enough residents inside the remaining portions of the doughnut hole, and there are other areas that could be included in the incorporation boundary, Lenk said.

Ryan Verhulp, the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor, said commissioners can add to the boundaries of an incorporation effort if the area is not part of a city boundary and is contiguous.

Commission Chairman Brad Peck suggested the time extension also would give time for a Franklin County Superior Court decision on the lawsuit filed by the Citizens for Lifestyle Preservation.

The city of Pasco has asked for the case to be dismissed. The city argues that Citizens for Lifestyle Preservation's claims that the city mishandled the annexation process are unfounded.

For the full story, see Thursday’s Tri-City Herald.