Port grant boosts CP connector route
Waitsburg's main street project also gets financial nod from the Port.
By ANDY PORTER of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
A new College Place connector route and a project to revitalize downtown Waitsburg both got a boost Wednesday from the Port of Walla Walla.
The Economic Development Sales Tax Fund grants totaled $200,000 for College Place and $100,000 for Waitsburg. Both grants will be funded by state sales tax funds returned to Walla Walla County for economic development projects.
The College Place project will extend Whitman Drive between Larch Avenue and Myra Road to create a new route to the center of town, said College Place City Administrator Mike Patterson.
Work on the first phase of the $1.7 million project will go west from Myra Road to create an alternate entrance for the new Home Depot store, Patterson told Port commissioners. Later construction will extend the roadway the remaining distance to link to where Whitman Drive now intersects with Larch Avenue.
The projected completion date for the road is 2005, Patterson said. The city will commit $410,000 for the project, with the remaining funds coming from developer construction commitments and the economic development grant.
Patterson said the city would wait until the project is near completion to request distribution of the grant.
The second grant request for the Waitsburg Downtown Streetscape project was approved after Port commissioners discussed the project with Ross Hamann, chairman of the Waitsburg Community Revitalization Committee.
Although the original request was for $200,000, Port commissioners Ken Jantz, Paul Schneidmiller and Fred Bennett approved the lower amount on the condition the project backers report back at the end of this year on their fund-raising efforts.
Hamann said the grant will be used to provide matching dollars for grants the city will be seeking from various state, federal and other agencies to finance the $600,000 project.
The project is intended to revitalize Waitsburg's downtown area with new lighting, walkways, artwork, landscaping and signage, Hamann said. .
Although Port commissioners expressed support for the project, they told Hamann they had reservations about the size of the grant request.
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