Port of Pasco: Working now for the future

People love to live within the Port of Pasco district. It is a vibrant place with strong schools, expanding residential areas, a wonderful public safety system and so much more.

As a Port, we have a role to encourage new industry to provide jobs and the tax base needed to support the quality of life we desire. We are moving ahead with a number of projects designed to spur both industrial and business growth.

Years ago, the Port of Pasco partnered with the City of Pasco and other agencies to create the Pasco Processing Center. This site now contains five large food processors, three large cold storage companies, a logistics distributor and support businesses, including a packaging manufacturing company. Building off that successful model, the Port is looking to buy 100-plus acres for the next industrial park.

Currently the Port is working with the state’s Department of Natural Resources regarding property in northeast Pasco. The land could sprout the region’s next big industrial park, which would add an important tax base.

Traditionally, the Port has seen its role in supporting large industry as having readily available land and utilities. Now, as water becomes scarcer, the Port believes it is important to add water rights to its portfolio to support large industry. To those ends, we have just purchased a large allotment of water rights that can be used for food processors or other water-dependent businesses.

One important piece of property owned by the Port of Pasco and ready for development is the Airport Business Center. It offers high visibility, easy access and soon new businesses.

This spring, a local hotel developer is hoping to break ground at the site for an upscale, 100-room hotel at the entrance to the airport. Work will also include the development of a street that will connect the hotel directly to Terminal Loop Road.

Later this year, the Airport Business Center will be the home of a new auto auction business. It will offer late-model vehicles for auction to the public.

Other development near the airport includes the expansion of the FedEx air freight facility and the possibility of a new hangar to house the Department of Energy’s atmospheric research aircraft and staff.

In the northern part of our district, the Port has been sitting down with several community organizations to craft a plan for Port investment in Connell. There has been a lot of great input with ideas like a new visitors’ center, refurbished downtown storefronts, expanded library, and enhanced broadband availability. While a final decision has not yet been made, the Port anticipates moving forward with a project early this year to add to the great quality of life in Connell.

While these efforts are specific and tangible, the Port is part of an important economic development initiative called Somos Pasco – or “We Are Pasco.”

It’s an exciting project, which will shape the future of Pasco for 20 years.

By strategically teaming with the Pasco Chamber of Commerce, as well as a number of agencies, businesses, the school district and the public, we can purposefully create a vision and coordinate the steps we all need to take to get there.

Having wrapped up the study portion of the project, we are now asking for the help and input of the community. What is your vision for Pasco? What would you like to see as a part of a coordinated effort? We invite community members to visit www.SomosPasco.org to learn about the project, and take part in one of the “Community Conversations” now underway.

This is just a glimpse of the work ahead of us. As a port, we continue to take our responsibility in economic development seriously and look forward to the progress we know our Port District will experience because of these efforts.

This story was originally published April 1, 2018 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Port of Pasco: Working now for the future."