West Richland Complex Information & Comments Form
In 2021, Benton REA purchased 17 acres of land for future development. The land is located in West Richland on Cooperative Way, just off Keene Road.
Aging facilities require improvements in both West Richland and Prosser.
- Increase costs to address maintenance and repair issues
- Current HVAC failing - increased frequency of service calls and cost
- Electrical issues causing internal loss of power, overloading circuits
- Run down facilities due to age and increased traffic
All members benefit from future property improvements.
- West Richland complex results in several properties in Prosser and West Richland that are surplus and can be sold
- District office and crew will remain in the Prosser area to serve members closer to it
- Will consolidate district office facilities and eliminate crews stopping at 2-4 locations to get material before they leave for the outage or job site
- Operational efficiencies result in more work time, faster response time = better service
- Improves service to everyone, not just those closer to West Richland
All comments will be posted on this site for members to view. Please refrain from using profane language. All comments will be reviewed for such language prior to posting.
With 73% of customers being in or near West Richland it only makes sense that their main facility be located here. While a new facility may have up front capital costs, I can only imagine the long term cost savings associated with the efficiencies of an updated facility that’s located where the overwhelming majority of the business is. It’s clear BREA has outgrown their Prosser facility. While upgrades to the currently inefficient and outdated facilities are possible, those upgrades still cost money and would likely only be a temporary bandaid that would struggle to keep up with the rapid growth happening in both West Richland and Prosser, requiring continuous upgrades year after year to keep up. Whereas what appears to be a carefully thought out Option 3b would create efficiencies for current demand and be positioned to support future growth in the service areas. The proposed rate increase seems like a nominal price to pay for years of operational efficiencies. As a BREA member and West Richland resident I fully support the building of this new facility.