Kittitas County schedules hearing, advances grant and design work for fairgrounds projects

Kittitas County commissioners moved several event-center and fairgrounds items forward during the May 20 meeting, including setting a public hearing on dry camping rates at the county fair, approving a professional services agreement for rodeo grandstand reconstruction and signing an amendment to a WSDA grant for RV park design.

Katie Porterfield, Kittitas Valley Event Center director, asked the board to set a public hearing in June to consider amending dry-camping rates for the fair. “We’re just requesting to set a public hearing, for the meeting in June so we can discuss dry camping rates for the fair,” Porterfield said.

Separately, staff presented a professional services agreement with ALSC Architects to continue work on the Rodeo Grandstands reconstruction project; the work is covered by a Department of Commerce grant awarded in 2023, staff said. A related WSDA grant amendment was presented by Katie Korfel, Event Center director, who said Washington State Department of Agriculture agreed to a one-month extension of the grant deadline for RV park design and groundwork utilities. “They were gracious enough to give us a 1 month deadline, but we have to execute an amendment,” Korfel said.

These items were included on the consent agenda and were approved when the board adopted the consent agenda. The county did not provide detailed cost breakdowns for the ALSC agreement or the WSDA amendment during the meeting, nor a proposed new rate schedule for dry camping; staff indicated the hearing in June will allow the board and public to consider rate changes.