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TRI-
June 25, 2009
By Dalina Castellanos, Herald staff writer
PASCO -- A forgotten rosebush sways as cement dust from a saw cutting
cinder blocks blows by at the former Travel Inn in downtown Pasco.
By the end of the year the inn, like the bush, should bloom into
something much more pleasant to look at.
The dilapidated building is being remodeled into "La Posada" to offer
housing for seasonal and migrant farmworkers.
The Sea Mar Farmworker and Community Housing Development organization
owns the building, as well as the adjacent Sea Mar Motel at 627 W. Lewis
St.
The La Posada project had been delayed by years of permit and funding
issues, but is finally becoming reality.
"It's been a long process," said Marty Miller, executive director of the
Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing, which has provided Sea Mar with
assistance on the plan.
"We're happy to be moving forward and turn it into something that's up
to date and serving a real need," Miller said.
Farmworker housing has been in demand in Pasco and Franklin County, but
projects to address that need have faced challenges.
The Franklin County Farm Bureau currently is working with the
Yakima-based Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing on a separate
project to build a 100-bed housing facility off Ringold Road near Basin
City that has drawn opposition from neighbors.
The Sea Mar Motel also has been controversial. That building, which also
will be renovated later this year as part of La Posada, had its own dark
past and had been considered a rundown drug haven when it was remodeled
in 2000 for farmworker housing.
Sea Mar, a Seattle-based, nonprofit health agency, originally was
approached to provide drug rehabilitation facilities along with seasonal
housing, said Michael Leong, vice president of corporate and legal
affairs for Sea Mar.
"Unfortunately much of that population created challenges because they
have a lot of baggage," he said.
"It didn't make sense for us to continue that way," said Leong.
Leong believes Sea Mar's operations have alleviated concerns. "I think
people have become more comfortable with the way we operate the
facility."
The La Posada project stalled after Pasco passed an ordinance in 2001
prohibiting social service agencies from opening in the city's 13-block
central business district, said Miller. Sea Mar challenged the ordinance
in court but that effort was unsuccessful.
"There was no determination on whether the ordinance was deemed
unconstitutional," said Leland Kerr, Pasco city attorney.
Sea Mar's solution is to reopen the buildings as a motel. The old Sea
Mar will be called La Posada East, while the Travel Inn at 725 W. Lewis
St. will be La Posada West.
Sea Mar will have to operate the facilities as a commercial motel and
pay a motel fee to comply with the law, but there are no restrictions as
to how long a person may rent a room, said Dave McDonald, Pasco city
planner.
"You could go to any hotel or motel -- even the Red Lion -- and as long
as you pay the daily tax you can stay as long as they rent you the
room," McDonald said.
Sea Mar's 36 rooms are typically full at the start of the spring
asparagus harvest, said Leong, making the new project a necessity.
The two renovated buildings will have a total of 66 rooms combined -- 14
of which will be group units -- and a shared community center and an
on-site manager.
Though technically a motel, Leong said Sea Mar plans to market the
facility as a housing option for seasonal and migrant workers.
La Posada, Spanish for the inn, will be completed in time for next
year's harvest. Prices for the rooms have yet to be set, said Allison
Holmes a development specialist with the Office of Rural and Farmworker
Housing.
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