The city of Airway Heights says it has launched its own $8.2 million economic stimulus plan aimed at reducing its unemployment rate, which is the highest of any city in the county, and at preparing for future growth.

Albert Tripp, the city manager, says the plan focuses on three components. One component involves investing in "smart infrastructure" street and water-supply improvements. Another component will protect water quality by connecting an underserved section of the city to the public sewer system, Tripp says. The third component will support the city's future economic strengths, specifically by enhancing services to the Spokane County Raceway and the Northern Quest Resort & Casino, he says.

The city's economic development plan, which will be funded through a mix of federal, state, and local dollars, is expected to create 80 construction jobs in the near future and contribute to long-term economic and employment growth, Tripp says.

"These investments will provide a foundation for new businesses to open in the area," he says.

Doug Tweedy, Spokane-based regional economist for the Washington state Department of Employment Security, says Airway Heights had an average unemployment rate of a whopping 34.3 percent in 2009—city data aren't available yet for 2010. The city had an average labor force of1,768 people in 2009, and an average of 606 of those workers was unemployed, Tweedy says.

The work force and unemployment calculations for Airway Heights, though, don't count military personnel who may live in Airway Heights and work at Fairchild Air Force Base, which is the largest employer in Spokane County, Tweedy says.

Fairchild Air Force Base, home to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing, reported it employed 4,975 full-time-equivalent employees as of last Nov. 1.

While the 2010 unemployment rate for Airway Heights isn't available yet, Tweedy says, "My best guess is the number of employed increased in 2010, but the unemployment rate still is going to be high."

Countywide, the unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in 2010, up from 8.9 percent in 2009.

In Airway Heights, the unemployment rate soared during the recession, which contributed to a number of business closures, including a Pizza Pipeline outlet, a Movie Gallery video rental store, a barber shop, a fitness club, a longtime auto-sales lot, and a United Rental Supply Inc. outlet, just to recall a few, Tripp says.

"United Rental Supply had been in the community for well over a decade and was a major supplier of rental construction equipment," he says.

Building on strengths

The city of Airway Heights sees strong potential for economic growth in the county's raceway park, at the northeast edge of the city, Tripp says. The city plans to invest $1.2 million to extend utilities there, including drinking water, recycled water, and sewer service, he says.

Cindy Gibbs-Arias, the raceway's general manager, says such improvements will lead to more and bigger events at the facilities there.

"All the work out there helps us run more efficiently," she says.

The raceway, which the county bought in 2008, is planning more than 90 race days for the upcoming racing season, Gibbs says. Each event requires a full crew, which includes 20 to 30 people, plus up to 35 additional security personnel and concession workers, she says.

Raceway events also spur a marked increase in area restaurant, hotel, and gas station business, Gibbs asserts.

She says the track likely will be a catalyst for attracting or encouraging the start-up of additional related businesses, such as it was for Inland Speed LLC, a two-year-old motorcycle riding and speed-training concern in Airway Heights.

Separate from the city's economic development plan, the county is planning to complete improvements valued at about $947,000 at the track this year, Gibbs says. Panco Construction Inc., of Spokane Valley, has been awarded a $797,000 contract to realign the facility's road course, and the county is planning to construct a $150,000 maintenance building there, she says.

Also on the northeast edge of Airway Heights, Tripp says, the city is working with the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, which owns the Northern Quest Resort & Casino, to realign Sprague Avenue just south of the facility. Sprague will be rerouted east of the Airway Heights Corrections Center to meet with Hayford Road on the north side of the tribe's recently constructed Chevron at Legacy Landing gas station and convenience store, which is about a block south of the current Sprague-Hayford intersection.

Airway Heights will install city utilities along the Sprague realignment at an estimated cost of $400,000, Tripp says. The tribe has obtained a $1.2 million federal grant to build the road after the utilities are installed, Tripp says.

The realignment will allow the tribe to pursue development options that would complement Northern Quest, he says.

Kalispel Development Co., which develops and manages real estate for the tribe, says on its website that the tribe owns 252 acres south of the Northern Quest facilities "that is destined for commercial, residential and industrial growth."

Tribe representatives who are working with the city couldn't be reached for comment.

Northern Quest, which the Journal has identified in a published list as the eighth largest employer in Spokane County, reported it had 1,636 employees as of last Nov. 1.

Improving infrastructure

In what it calls the smart infrastructure component of its economic plan, the city plans street and water-system improvements with an estimated value of $5.4 million, Tripp says.

Tripp says the city will invest $4.4 million in water-system upgrades, including a new well and 1.5-million-gallon storage reservoir to be constructed near the raceway park to improve the city's service in general and increase its capacity for future growth.

Also, a planned $1 million project will involve rebuilding a three-quarter-mile stretch of Lawson Street from U.S. 2 to 21st Ave. The project will be funded through federal stimulus dollars, Tripp says.

The city expects to open bids for the infrastructure projects in May or June, he says.

Another component of the economic development plan will bring utilities to an underserved sector of the city south of U.S. 2, he says.

Initial work will include connecting about 100 homes to the sewer system and taking them off septic systems at a cost of $1.2 million, Tripp says, adding that the project will be funded through the Washington state Department of Ecology's Pollution Control Revolving Fund.

That sewer-related work will commence this summer, Tripp says. The city plans to install sewer mains this year and to complete the connections to homes in 2012, when the city's $45 million water reclamation plant, currently under construction at the southwest corner of 21st Avenue and Russell Street, comes online.