Public Works director shares progress with data mapping

County commissioners discussed Graphic Informational Systems in Whitman County and heard an update about the Hawkins development Tuesday morning at their workshop session.

Whitman County will work throughout the summer to update GIS in the county, Public Works Director Mark Storey said.

GIS is a data mapping system that is used to map out fire hydrants, school zones, town and city limits and election zones, Lance Bishop, Whitman County IT Director, said.

Storey added GIS also collects data on roads and bridges.

Bishop said GIS is very precise and is helpful for county functions, like 911. He also said the GIS will use addresses to get data points in order to create a base layer.

The Public Works department has been working on GIS since November, Storey said.

The department has to work with the City of Pullman because the city has more GIS, and they do not want to duplicate data.

Storey added Pullman has about a quarter or less of all the addresses in the county.

Storey also gave an update about the former Hawkins LLC development along the Moscow-Pullman highway. He said the new owner, Sand Road Bucklers, is in the process of designing a water flow system that is used for fire fighting.

Storey said the stateline property is not served by a city water system, so there are certain requirements.

The development property is about 200 acres, and they plan to use ten acres for the project, Storey said.

“They’re just working through their bits and pieces,” Storey said.

Storey also discussed the Almota Four road reconstruction project.

The Public Works department still needs four more signatures before the project is passed for approval. The deadline is June 1.

He said they expect to have at least a couple signatures by the end of the week.

“I’m actually optimistic, for a change, that we’re getting somewhere,” Storey said.