City of West Richland: A safe place to call home

Community Safety:

Community safety remains a top priority of the City of West Richland. The city was recognized by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs in the 2018 Crime Washington Annual Report that reported West Richland had a 6.1% decrease in overall crime.

With a statistic like that, it is no wonder West Richland was ranked the fourth safest city in Washington state. Also, Wallethub named West Richland 2019’s Best City to Raise a Family in Washington state.

It’s obvious our citizens appreciate the men and women of the West Richland Police Department as shown by passage of a bond measure for a new Police Station. Construction will begin late in 2020. The voter-approved public safety sales tax facilitated by Benton County provides additional police officers who give us the ability to participate with our regional partners in the Metro Drug Task Force and the Regional Swat Team.

Enhanced school safety is also a priority. The Richland School District does not have a high school here and that is where you would normally see a School Resource Officer (SRO). However, we felt it was necessary to provide an SRO for our middle schools and elementary schools here in West Richland.

Growth and Infrastructure:

Developers are now building townhouses, multi-family homes and condominiums along major intersections such as Bombing Range Road and Mt. Adams View Drive. There are also projects planned at the future intersection of West Van Giesen Street and Paradise Way. We are excited to see the increase in multi-family, which is a commodity our city has been lacking.

All of this certainly contributes to our over 3% annual growth, bringing our population to 15,360 as of 2019. We expect to see our annual growth more than double after receiving and approving an application for a 165-acre subdivision that will make up 563 residential lots to be developed in 10 phases.

The balance of the site will be public right-of-way, open space tracts, parks, undeveloped commercial and multi-family residential tracts. The Heights at Red Mountain Ranch is an appropriate name given its location at the base of Red Mountain just north of Red Mountain Center. The Brotherhood Reservoir Project, which is the construction of a one-million-gallon reservoir to increase water pressure and fire flow to commercial properties along the Van Giesen corridor is complete and online.

The completion of the Well No. 11 Project, expected to be online later this year, includes construction of a new potable groundwater well with 1,650 gallons per minute capacity. The final water project is the Well No. 10 Aquifer Storage & Recovery Project (ASR). This well currently meets drinking water standard but has a sulfur smell that makes it a prime candidate for an ASR in partnership with Department of Ecology which is providing grant funding.

Economic Development:

The City of West Richland focuses on supporting our local businesses, and we are also excited to welcome construction of new businesses. These include Circle K at the corner of Bombing Range and Paradise Way, and Frank and Son Collision Repair and Sun Market with Firehouse Subs in the Belmont Business District.

Also two of the three former city hall buildings on Van Giesen have sold for commercial/retail business and the vacant properties behind those buildings have also been sold for commercial/retail development, with building permit submittals expected this summer.

Fiscal Responsibility:

West Richland continues to remain in a solid financial position, thanks in part to our strong commitment to practicing sound financial management and prudent stewardship of our resources. This was reflected with our bond rating for the voter-approved bond for the new Police Station increasing from AA to AA+. Our future is bright in West Richland and we encourage our citizens to stay involved and informed through our web site at www.westrichland.org and like us on Facebook.

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:01 PM with the headline "City of West Richland: A safe place to call home."