Benton County planning commissioners press housing subcommittee on process, rural water and outreach

The Benton County Planning Commission on Jan. 14 received an update from its regional housing subcommittee and spent the bulk of a two-hour-plus meeting debating subcommittee process, outreach scope and the limits of county jurisdiction — most notably water availability in rural areas.

Ed Fulford, a planning commissioner and chair of the regional housing subcommittee, summarized a two‑phase effort that he said began with outreach to “some 50 different leaders in and around the region” and is moving toward a second phase to form a community committee, hire consultants and identify near‑term, shovel‑ready projects. Fulford said the group has asked the county and the governor’s office for two years of funding and that the subcommittee has requested roughly $12,000,000 in infrastructure funding that could be used to advance projects such as wastewater infrastructure for Adair Village. He also said the subcommittee is seeking private contributions and aiming for about $1,000,000 from local employers in year one.

“Phase 1 was really a socialization of the regional housing,” Fulford said. “A lot of people have a piece of the puzzle, but we need to kind of bring it together.” He said the governor’s office and the offices of U.S. Sen. Merkley,…