How should West Richland plan for growth? Candidates for council disagree

Planning for growth in West Richland, and the appropriate pace, are key issues in a primary race for the West Richland City Council.

Current Councilman John Smart, former Councilman Robert Perkes and a long-time community volunteer William “Dan” White are running for Position 1 in the Aug. 1 primary election.

The top two will square off in the Nov. 7 general election for a four-year term on the council. Council members are paid $500 per month, plus a $50 monthly vehicle allowance.

Smart, a senior research engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is serving his second year on the council and has lived in the town for 20 years.

He values the “country home” feel of West Richland and wants to preserve it.

“I’m not against growth, I just want it wisely conducted,” he said.

Residents don’t want to drive home through a corridor like Road 68 in Pasco or Columbia Center Boulevard in Kennewick, he said.

Van Giesen Street and the area of Belmont Boulevard and Keene Road are both appropriate areas for new businesses.

But he opposes business development that interferes with the quality of existing residential neighborhoods, including the large residential lots on Bombing Range Road. He opposed rezoning a lot on Van Giesen Street and Bombing Range Road for commercial use for a hardware store, he said.

He also is concerned with the city’s spending, saying the town of 14,600 people is $21 million in debt.

A new city hall, a gateway park at the Yakima River and wine effluent treatment are “fantastic things.” But the city needs to practice fiscal responsibility and not spend more money that it does not have, he said.

West Richland now does not allow marijuana stores, a ban that Smart supports.

Smart says Benton County has been negligent in not having an ordinance in place that would prohibit county stores within a buffer zone, such as 1,500 feet, of the boundary of a city that bans the stores. A cannabis retailer is moving to an unincorporated island at the edge of West Richland.

Smart said what he has seen as he has spent time at a petition booth set up near the site has reinforced his belief that cannabis stores are linked to problems. Cars have repeatedly driven by with people making rude hand gestures, cursing at those gathering signatures and running over a sign that is well off the road, he said.

Challenger Perkes has previously served on both the West Richland City Council and Planning Commission.

He’s a West Richland businessman, the owner of a health care company for 10 years.

The city cannot afford to keep looking back while the world moves forward. It needs strong leadership, rather than regressive politics, he said.

“It’s not the same town it was 15 or 20 years ago and it is not going to be the same in 10 years,” he said.

Projects like the Yakima River park attract visitors to town and address public safety issues, including by getting visitor parking off road sides and into a parking lot, he said. The project is being paid for, in part, with grants.

The city has fallen behind on development of recreational space, including parks for sports and walking paths, he said. He wants places for his family to enjoy without leaving town, he said.

He supports the new city facilities and says old facilities have potential to be used for business incubation.

He would prefer that cannabis not be sold or used in West Richland, but “I don’t live in a land of alternative facts,” he said. He voted against a ban as a councilman in 2014.

“It is here and it is not going away,” he said. Now the city will have a marijuana store in its backyard without the benefit of tax money for enforcement, education and diversion.

The other challenger, White, has no city government experience but has been a Benton Fire District 4 volunteer firefighter for 16 years.

He played a key role in the development of the Bombing Range Sports Complex, including raising donations, and served for nine years on the West Richland Parks and Recreation Board.

He has lived in West Richland for 27 years and is a Navy veteran

Now that he’s retired from work at the Hanford nuclear reservation, he wants to bring the planning skills he developed there to city projects.

He worked for several years in nuclear safety, conducting hazard analyses that required a look ahead to identify all things that could change. The same approach would work for city planning, he said

The city has not done a good job planning for where it will grow and how it will grow, he said. It needs to forecast growth and plan streets and utilities before problems arise, he said.

“In the time I have lived here West Richland has had fairly explosive growth and there is no reason to think it will slow down,” he said.

If new facilities are proposed for the city, a review of impacts to city infrastructure is needed to make sure that they pay their fair share of costs to the city, he said.

There needs to be a balance to growth, with both families and businesses continuing to flourish, he said. The city also needs amenities that residents can enjoy without leaving town, he said.

He supports the current city ordinance against marijuana shops, pointing out that sales are banned under federal law.

All three candidates plan to spend less than $5,000 in the campaign, the amount triggering a requirement for contribution and expenditure reports to be filed with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission.

This story was originally published July 24, 2017 at 6:35 PM with the headline "How should West Richland plan for growth? Candidates for council disagree."