Enterprising Communities Join For Economic Development Aid

An unlikely collection of rural northeastern Washington communities will band together economically in a ceremony here today featuring Gov. Gary Locke.

The so-called Five Star Enterprise Community - encompassing the city of Newport, the Spokane and Colville Indian reservations and Ferry County - will receive up to $2.5 million in federal economicdevelopment assistance over the next 10 years.

A 10-member board of civic leaders has drawn up a list of possible projects, ranging from a day-care center to major resorts. There are two representatives from each of the five census tracts that make up the coalition.

The group was assembled by the Tri-County Economic Development District, which serves Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties. Only five 1990 census tracts in the three counties met the complicated criteria of a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to help economically depressed rural areas.

The Tri-County coalition had one of only 20 successful applications among 160 from across the country in this year’s second round of competition for “enterprise community” awards. The funding requires annual congressional approval, but the Five Star group’s first $250,000 installment is already in the pipeline.

Enterprise communities also will get special consideration for other federal grants, loans and tax incentives. That’s how Wellpinit and Nespelem got federal grants and loans for new water and sewer systems this year, said Karen Bailor, the Agriculture Department’s rural development coordinator for Washington.

Bailor said the Five Star group’s executive board has been meeting every other week for much of this year to hammer out guidelines for spending the money and a tentative list of projects.

Although politicians in some of the affected counties and tribal governments don’t always get along, Bailor said she has been “extremely impressed with the ability of these communities to sit down together and work together on something.”

In general, projects must be inside the five member census tracts, which include the city of Newport, the Spokane Reservation, two tracts in the Colville Reservation and one in northern Ferry County.

Proposed projects include a daycare center, a cultural center, a community center and a fire station at Nespelem, two marinas and resorts on the Colville Reservation and one on the Spokane Reservation, health centers in Keller and Inchelium, a Laundromat in Inchelium, and a fish-processing plant at Omak.

Also proposed in and around Omak: an art center, a tribal longhouse, community gardens and agricultural test plots, renovation of a community center, and creation of a vocational training center.

In Ferry County, proposals include improvements to the Barney’s Junction restaurant-motel complex near Kettle Falls, development of a port district to promote economic development, and water systems for North and South Twin lakes.

Proposed projects in and near Newport include more downtown parking, a new industrial park and improvements to an existing one near Cusick, a skateboard park, a water study and a farmer’s market.

A long list of proposals for the Spokane Reservation includes community, youth and senior centers, closure of a landfill, an ambulance garage, a convenience store, improvements to various public facilities, and programs to promote art and child development.

Some ideas Two marinas and resorts on the Colville Reservation and one on the Spokane Reservation. A Laundromat in Inchelium. Improvements to the Barney’s Junction restaurant-motel complex near Kettle Falls.