PASCO, Wash. – Pasco residents gathered at City Hall to voice their opinions on the city’s new six-year transportation improvement plan. As part of the process, public works and parks and recreation officials were present to answer questions and provide updates on ongoing projects.
The city builds on last year’s plan by adjusting it to meet current needs. “This is our starting point for TIP this year,” said Maria Serra, Director for the Public Works Department. “We had a plan that was approved last year. We look at this plan, identify what needs to be edited. What has changed.”
Residents raised questions about zoning laws, new parks, and re-paving certain streets. The engineering manager for the public works department emphasized the importance of community input, stating, “We do our projects, we focus, sometimes we get focused in on certain things, and we don’t necessarily have the eyes of seeing things… So people that live in different areas. This is great to have input that we may not be seeing on the regular basis.” Said Engineering Manager, Andrey Avetisyan.
The transportation improvement plan needs to be finalized by July 1 and will be approved by the city council in the next month. Officials are seeking community feedback to help with prioritization and budget analysis. “Again, this is the stage of it where we want all the feedback and then that’ll help with that process of getting prioritization, budget analysis in the timing all lined up,” said Avetisyan
For those who missed the meeting, another opportunity to provide feedback will be available on May 7 at Gesa Stadium. Suggestions can also be submitted through the City of Pasco’s website.
