City of Richland: Population bump boosts Richland business growth

The City of Richland continues to see steady population and business growth. Since 2010, our population has increased by 18.29%. In 2019 we saw a 2.8% increase from 2018, the highest per capita change in the Tri-Cities. Our downtown core is buzzing with new and successful businesses, activities and events.

Housing and new business developments are flourishing, and investors are working with community leaders to remodel and modernize area businesses and vacant buildings.

Last year, we completed our new City Hall, demolished the old City Hall and Annex building and are now marketing the site for sale or lease. This corner is a key component of the City Council’s vision for our downtown and waterfront. We also completed significant improvements to Swift Boulevard, including widening sidewalks and adding bicycle lanes. Our Shared Streets Program encourages bicycle and pedestrian safety.

The relationship between our law enforcement and the community is stronger than ever. The Richland Police Department grew its online presence in the past year to include Community and Police (CAP) Neighborhood Groups, a Crime Data Portal, a Voluntary Camera Partnership Program and a way to report tips anonymously.

Richland Fire and Emergency Services Department launched “Heart Safe Richland” in June of 2019, with the goal of reducing cardiac-arrest-related deaths in Richland and the greater Tri-City area. To date, nearly 9,000 individuals have received Hands-Only CPR and AED training. In 2020, we will see similar outreach efforts targeting improved outcomes for stroke patients. The City of Richland Fire and Emergency Services Department works closely with Kadlec Regional Medical Center. This partnership is invaluable and supports the health and safety of our community. In north Richland, our investment in infrastructure has resulted in approximately $494 million in new facilities and private investments such as Preferred Freezer, Packaging Corp. of America and Lamb Weston’s plant expansion, resulting in about 700 new jobs. In 2020, we will continue to extend key roads and infrastructure to open more land development opportunities in the Horn Rapids Industrial Park.

In 2020, we will begin construction of two public safety facilities in central and north Richland to address growth, including the Horn Rapids Industrial Park, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, WSU Tri-Cities, as well as continued residential expansion. In addition, we will begin to implement an Advanced Metering Infrastructure, and complete construction of the Duportail Bridge.

City government utilizes short- and long-term planning processes to forecast and strategize the future. Our community members help drive both plans by participating in public meetings, surveys and communications with staff and City Council. The needs and suggestions from our citizens are researched and prioritized before moving to the planning stages. Currently, we are finalizing results of the Downtown Connectivity Study, which will advance the City Council’s vision for a pedestrian-friendly waterfront and downtown while maintaining or enhancing vehicular travel flow.

With great successes, we also face some challenges in the coming year. We are already seeing transportation implications because of the passing of Initiative 976. Initiative 976 has slowed construction of the Duportail Bridge and may eliminate the funds used to repair and preserve our current roadways. This will delay current and future road projects and require alternative funding sources.

The threat of removal of the Lower Snake River Dams continues. The Lower Snake River Dams provide direct voltage support to our transmission network. Removal of the dam(s) would create more stress on other generation resources and wider voltage swings. Their removal would result in increased costs for wholesale power. This in turn would likely result in rate increases for our customers.

Lastly, the recent threat of the novel coronavirus in our state has become top of mind. As a city, our primary role during the outbreak is to support the local, county, state and federal agencies directly tasked with managing and communicating information to the public. We will continue to seek the guidance of the Center for Disease Control, the Washington State Dept. of Health and the local health district in making decisions that will impact the safety of our community.

We encourage our citizens to stay involved and informed. You can subscribe to a number of announcements at www.ci.richland.wa.us/enotify or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Charter Cable Channel 192. If you would like to learn more about our budget and capital improvement plan, visit www.ci.richland.wa.us/budget.We look forward to another exciting year.

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:01 PM with the headline "City of Richland: Population bump boosts Richland business growth."