RIDGEFIELD — Ridgefield City Council, Port of Ridgefield and Ridgefield School District officials came together Aug. 9 to talk developments for each of the entities for the first in what are hoped to be regular joint meetings to keep each other abreast of happenings that impact the entities.
Port of Ridgefield Vice President of Innovation Nelson Holmberg explained at the meeting that he drew upon his experience previously at the Port of Woodland and similar joint meetings he had there when putting Ridgefield’s version together.
“The value to it for all of us was we weren’t surprising one another,” Holmberg said, explaining the meetings helped to synchronize the entities to what was going on with each other. He gave an example of its benefits, explaining that having each group on the same page when headed to Olympia for specific legislative days helped coordinate their message which translated into millions in funding for projects there.
Holmberg said that both he and Ridgefield School District Superintendent Nathan McCann had been in talks to get the meetings going, with McCann also mentioning what he saw as benefits for the coordination.
“This builds a tremendous amount of public confidence in government, when agencies work together and find ways to do things more efficiently,” McCann said, “It’s I think a far more exciting way to do business, and I think you get better results as well.”
From the school district’s side of the discussion, a bond measure to be voted on the public in February was the biggest point of discussion.
McCann said that the bulk of the bond’s funding would be to construct new grades 5-6 and 7-8 facilities on property near the current high school as well as expansion of that facility. He provided information that even with an increase of about $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value, the total district levy would be at about the average of surrounding districts. Currently Ridgefield’s levy is the lowest at about $3.38 per $1,000.
Ridgefield School Board member Joseph Vance addressed possible opposition to the bond measure moving forward, speaking specifically about sentiments against growth. He said that the growth was inevitable, and the bond would help assure that the education would be able to handle that growth.
“Whether you liked Ridgefield when it was small or didn’t like it when it was small, small is not an option,” Vance remarked. “The choice is, how do you want Ridgefield to be like when it’s big, because it’s going to be big whether you like it or don’t like it.”
From the city, Ridgefield City Manager Steve Stuart spoke about city developments, which also focused on anticipating growth. The state-mandated comprehensive plan the city had been working on was indicative of this, as Stuart said that in 2035 the city was expected to have a population close to 25,000.
“Again, we don’t control growth; we don’t decide whether we grow,” Stuart said, mirroring Vance’s sentiment, “we decide how we grow; all of us in this room decide how we grow.”
Speaking for the port, Chief Executive Officer Brent Grening said jobs was a main focus for his entity, specifically mentioning the Discovery Corridor project area which he said had a lot of potential for development.
“The real key, if there’s any secret to this, is telling the potential, telling the story of what potential is out here,” Grening remarked, “We are worth the investment. We are not the ‘backyard’ to anybody, we are the front gate to the metro area. We are the rapidly-growing edge of the metro area; we can say that proudly.”
