The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I f and when it is completed, Whoopemup Meadows will probably increase Waitsburg's housing stock by more than 50% from its current level. That seems immense, but it will take awhile.

Co-developer Gene Warren says the new new114-lot development on Waitsburg's northwest corner, described in our Page 1 article, could take 20 years to complete, depending on market conditions. If it takes that long, it will work out to an average of less than six new homes per year. That does NOT qualify as explosive growth.

Nevertheless, new housing in the Touchet Valley is needed. Columbia Pulp plans to break ground on its new straw pulp plant near Starbuck early next year. They anticipate employing as many as 135 people within a year. And those will be good paying jobs.

The new Portland General Electric wind energy facility will go on line early next year. That project brings with it another handful of good paying maintenance and operations jobs.

And good jobs bring even more jobs. These new workers will need food for their families and gas for their cars. All this means that the economic future in the Touchet Valley looks bright - as long as we have places for many of the new workers to live.

Whoopemup Meadows will be a big part of meeting that need. The people of Waitsburg and the Touchet Valley should welcome it.

As a point of disclosure, as well as support, I worked with Gene Warren and his wife, Mary, for several years in my previous life as a real estate broker. They are co-owners of Warren Land Co., Whoopemup Meadows' developer.

Gene and Mary were both very successful sales people and are extremely knowledgeable and experienced in the local real estate market. They are a longtime farming family in Columbia County, and they have the resources needed to take the kind of risk the new housing development requires. And it's a big risk.

I've heard some people in Columbia County complain that the bulk of new housing should be happening there, not in Waitsburg. That's shortsighted thinking. There are landowners in the Dayton area considering new housing developments as well. Some will undoubtedly move forward.

With economic growth coming our way, there's likely to be plenty of demand for new housing in both Dayton and Waitsburg, and the entire Touchet Valley. This is no time for Dayton and Waitsburg to fight with each other.