By John Collett Story Published: Jul 1, 2011 at 6:11 PM PDT
TRI-CITIES -- The Tri-Cities community has grown significantly in the past decade and experts say that will continue strong for another ten years. In fact, a new report KEPR first told you about last week has our community getting bigger by about 35 percent in less than ten years.
Thought of more growth are astounding to Tri-Cities local Barb Maheu, who has already seen major changes in her day.
“They have all that new housing in west Pasco and really it expanded, Kennewick is more crowded cause they didn't have that mall at all,” said Maheu. “I mean when I was born here like 60 years ago, they didn't have any of that.”
The 35 percent prediction is going to need some help according to TRIDEC President Carl Adrian.
“This dream will only come true if there are jobs in the community and there's a reason for people to come in,” said Adrian.
Even if the jobs come, the idea of all that growth may be a double-edged sword, that could affect the quality of life that people here enjoy. One of the major areas of concern is how the schools would handle growth since they’re already filled to the max.
“It's harder for them to finance new buildings and that sort of thing,” added Adrian. “So that kind of growth would be a concern.”
Real estate agent Paul Roy is well aware of the growth and what can happen when it’s not handled correctly.
“Not all growth is good growth, and most people you talk to are pro smart growth,” said Roy. “What we look at that is having the infrastructure in place, having the services to service that growth and not just grow for the sake of growing.”
A bonus would likely come to homes though as they expect an increase in housing prices for homeowners, and bring an overall boom to the market.
“Right now there's some issues there,” said Roy. “Especially in what we call affordable housing under 200 it's very tight, very slow.”
TRIDEC explained they don't expect growth to be an issue on healthcare since Kadlec and KGH both plan to expand. Traffic may be an issue, but it's all relative.
For Maheu though, some things will never change.
“It still feels like it’s kind of an ideal town,” said Maheu.
TRIDEC also tells Action News the 35 percent estimate seems a bit high, and guesses it will be more like 20 percent. That would still mean an additional 50,000 people in our community over the next ten years.
TRI-CITIES -- The Tri-Cities community has grown significantly in the past decade and experts say that will continue strong for another ten years. In fact, a new report KEPR first told you about last week has our community getting bigger by about 35 percent in less than ten years.
Thought of more growth are astounding to Tri-Cities local Barb Maheu, who has already seen major changes in her day.
“They have all that new housing in west Pasco and really it expanded, Kennewick is more crowded cause they didn't have that mall at all,” said Maheu. “I mean when I was born here like 60 years ago, they didn't have any of that.”
The 35 percent prediction is going to need some help according to TRIDEC President Carl Adrian.
“This dream will only come true if there are jobs in the community and there's a reason for people to come in,” said Adrian.
Even if the jobs come, the idea of all that growth may be a double-edged sword, that could affect the quality of life that people here enjoy. One of the major areas of concern is how the schools would handle growth since they’re already filled to the max.
“It's harder for them to finance new buildings and that sort of thing,” added Adrian. “So that kind of growth would be a concern.”
Real estate agent Paul Roy is well aware of the growth and what can happen when it’s not handled correctly.
“Not all growth is good growth, and most people you talk to are pro smart growth,” said Roy. “What we look at that is having the infrastructure in place, having the services to service that growth and not just grow for the sake of growing.”
A bonus would likely come to homes though as they expect an increase in housing prices for homeowners, and bring an overall boom to the market.
“Right now there's some issues there,” said Roy. “Especially in what we call affordable housing under 200 it's very tight, very slow.”
TRIDEC explained they don't expect growth to be an issue on healthcare since Kadlec and KGH both plan to expand. Traffic may be an issue, but it's all relative.
For Maheu though, some things will never change.
“It still feels like it’s kind of an ideal town,” said Maheu.
TRIDEC also tells Action News the 35 percent estimate seems a bit high, and guesses it will be more like 20 percent. That would still mean an additional 50,000 people in our community over the next ten years.
