Pullman Council gives nod to Project Downtown plans

PULLMAN — Project Downtown is happening. The Pullman City Council approved the contract to finalize plans for downtown’s revitalization Tuesday afternoon.

A divided council awarded the bid to Apollo Inc., a contracting company out of Kennewick, Wash., to perform the work. All members except Eric Fejeran and Carla De Lira voted in agreement to the plan.

After sending the project out to bid for a second time, the city received four bids from contractors last week. Staff reviewed the bids and found all were responsive, but Apollo Inc. stood out being the lowest bidder.

Project Downtown is a city-led effort to rebuild Pullman’s streets, public spaces and infrastructure. It includes all of Main Street, from Grand Avenue to Spring Street. The project will fully upgrade utilities, repave sidewalks and streets, reenvision downtown’s layout and more.

Construction is slated to begin April 1 and last until Oct. 1.

The city was allotted $9.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to be used for the project. About $6.9 million is available for construction after funds were used to create the project’s design.

The approved contract costs nearly $11.7 million. Apollo agreed to do construction for $8.7 million. The new price tag is about 11% higher than engineers’ estimates.

The city will need to make up for the additional costs. The council approved a project budget that includes funding from local city tax funds, like the city’s water and sewer utility funds, along with other options, according to documents attached to the agenda. The council was told taking from these funds won’t negatively affect the city’s operations and won’t delay projects.

Councilors heard from the community about the project. During last week’s meeting, the council added a public comment period to Tuesday’s special meeting after a group of downtown business owners showed disapproval of the plan.

About two dozen came to share opinions. A full gallery came to observe the meeting, with some standing to watch while all available seating was taken.

Everyone agreed that downtown’s aging infrastructure is in need of repair, but some question the city’s approach. The majority of commenters urged councilors to consider redesigning the project, while others came to show their support.

Alan Hodges, manager of WaFd Bank on Main Street, told councilors his bank was an essential business during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will be completely isolated during the project. He said construction will deny his customers access to the lobby or automated teller machines.

“Think with your heart rather than your wallet,” Hodges said. “Reconsider a plan that is workable for the businesses in downtown Pullman on Main Street.”

Grace Navarrete of Pullman said she has several issues with the project, the first being citizen groups have spent hundreds of hours looking at it while city staff have chosen not to do their own research.

“They simply went along with what Welch Comer said,” Navarrete said, referring to the original contractor. “Now our community has to pay the consequences.”

She said the project is impacting businesses gravely, and many may not be here to see the end of the project.

On the other hand, Richard Grunewald encouraged councilors to proceed with the project. He said construction should be done now while the city has the financial opportunity, and it’s wiser to replace things in a planned way than during an emergency.

Tom Thompson said he’s been a Pullman resident for 40 years and knows the infrastructure needs to be replaced. He added the project has to be done now; the city doesn’t have time to redesign the plan and the money won’t be there forever.

Before the council made its decision, it opened up for discussion. Councilor Ann Parks said many people mentioned having “heart.” She added councilors care and wouldn’t be here if they didn’t.

“We do care, that’s why we’re here,” Parks said. “We are committed to supporting businesses and the biggest way is to work together and stop the divisiveness and the negative comments. We need to work together no matter what decision is made.”

Councilor Pat Wright said she’s lived in Pullman since 1975 and has seen it become a growing and successful community. She added downtown has long been a source of discussion, and has long been negatively characterized.

“Obviously, downtown is the one area that keeps Pullman from achieving greatness,” Wright said. “A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has presented itself to change that, thus enabling Pullman to make that leap from good to great.”

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com