Port of Umatilla pays in-kind services for easement

The Port of Umatilla paid $460,000 in in-kind services to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District for a real estate contract transaction. 

The services include four new playgrounds, tree maintenance services and gravel deliveries. 

The transaction was an easement renewal to re-authorize the use of railroad spur tracks and two water lines belonging to the Port of Umatilla on McNary project lands. 

The port paid for the 25-year easement with in-kind services, one of the largest in-kind consideration agreements the Walla Walla District has accepted.

The playgrounds are to be built at Hood Park day-use area, Hood Park campground, West Park and McNary Beach, and they total $233,710. The playground equipment was delivered in April.

The Corps said 130 trees in Hood Park were trimmed for safety in February, totaling $150,253. 

The gravel deliveries for McNary Beach and Sand Station recreation areas, totaling $76,036, were completed in February. 

In the last five years, the Walla Walla District has accepted multiple in-kind services for easements on McNary project lands, totaling $122,072. Those services included picnic tables, a vault toilet, a swing set and more.

Anonymous $3.8M donation will build new school

Nazareth Guild received its largest donation to date to build a new school for Assumption Catholic School in Walla Walla. 

The $3.8 million anonymous donation for the new building will provide a modern and well-equipped facility for the faith-based school, officials said in a release. 

The new school symbolizes a continued commitment to providing excellent education within the Catholic tradition for the Catholic schools of Eastern Washington, the Guild said in a release. A groundbreaking is scheduled to take place in spring 2025.

The Guild said the donors wanted to witness the impact of their financial gift during their lifetime. 

“The Catholic schools of Walla Walla have served the young people, families and parishioners of this beautiful region since the 1860s. The tremendous generosity of this most recent gift, the largest in the history of the school and our diocese, confirms the depth and commitment of the Catholic faithful to ensure that our students will grow in grace and wisdom. I pray that this great blessing will inspire many others to be generous in supporting Catholic education in Eastern Washington,” said Rev. Thomas A. Daly, bishop of the Spokane Diocese, in the release.

The Guild is a 501(c)3 under the umbrella of the Spokane Diocese which started in 2011 as a support arm for the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Spokane.

Pasco Landfill entering final cleanup phase

The final phase of cleanup at Pasco Landfill is under way, the state Department of Ecology recently announced. 

About 35,000 drums of hazardous waste will be treated using an in-situ thermal remediation system or ISTR. The hazardous waste drum removal was completed in 2022, marking a major milestone in a cleanup process that’s spanned two decades.

The ISTR system uses electricity to power heating rods buried underground to uniformly heat the contaminated soil to about 250 degrees by thermal conduction.

The underground fire is contained at the landfill, about 1.5 miles northeast of the city, north of the intersection of Kahlotus Road with Highway 12. The landfill property covers nearly 200 acres and is surrounded by agriculture and commercial businesses. It no longer accepts waste and is closed to the public, according to Ecology.

The landfill opened in 1958. Waste was burned in trenches until 1971, when the site became a sanitary landfill. From 1972-75, the landfill accepted industrial waste. Some was delivered in 55-gallon drums and disposed in two zones. The rest was delivered as bulk liquids that were placed into large evaporation lagoons, Ecology said.

The site was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 1990. The landfill closed in 2001.

I-2066 aims to protect energy choice in Washington state

A broad coalition is collecting signatures to place I-2066 on the November ballot to protect natural gas as an energy choice, ensure energy stability and security, and prohibit natural gas bans in Washington.

The initiative, sponsored by the Building Industry Association of Washington, repeals provisions of a new state law meant to hasten Puget Sound Energy’s transition away from natural gas, the Washington State Standards reports. It also bars cities and counties from prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging “the use of gas for any form of heating, or for uses related to any appliance or equipment, in any building.”

The Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities, as well as the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors, are serving as official signature collection locations.

The HBA encouraged members to stop by and sign the initiative before the June 28 deadline for submission to qualify the initiative for the November ballot. The HBA has additional copies of the initiative available for those who would like to collect signatures at their job sites or offices.

Homebuyers prefer new homes over existing properties

More homebuyers prefer newly built homes over existing homes, according to a study by the National Association of Home Builders. 

The study found that 61% of homebuyers want new homes when faced with a choice between the two options.

That marks the highest share of buyers leaning toward a new home since 2007, when 63% of buyers preferred new construction.

To compare, in 2018, 54% of buyers preferred a new home. The share jumped to 60% in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic reduced existing inventory and made many buyers afraid of touring occupied homes, the association said. By 2023, high mortgage rates had “locked-in” millions of existing homeowners in their homes, and that supply vacuum left new homes as the only available option for many buyers.

Downtown facade improvement program to relaunch

The Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership is relaunching a facade improvement grant program in partnership with the city of Kennewick. 

Applications are now open. Grants of up to $25,000 per storefront are available, with a partial match required.

This initiative, funded by the Community Development Block Grant, aims to enhance the beauty and historic charm of downtown Kennewick.

The application deadline is July 31.

Go to: historickennewick.org/facade-improvement-grants.

Housing boom could ease shortage, but cost remains problem

Nearly 5 million housing units have been added nationwide since 2020, making a housing shortage look surmountable in most of the U.S. But even more homes need to be built and continuing high interest rates aren’t helping, experts say.

Almost half of the housing increase from April 2020 to July 2023 came in six states: Texas, Florida, California, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau estimates. That mirrors America’s post-pandemic moving patterns to plentiful suburban housing in Texas and Florida, but also California’s persistent push for more apartments in resistant areas across the state.

The housing unit data, which tracks changes through the middle of 2023, shows continued increases across the country, with about 1.6 million new units annually for the past two years. Washington state’s inventory increased 5%, or 159,375 housing units.