August 2023 Volume 22 | Issue 8
Will ADUs help with Tri-Cities housing squeeze? By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz
Local News
Shoppers dig for deals at Tri-City liquidation stores Page A9
Banking & Investments
She never expected a high school internship to lead to her career path Page A13
Real Estate & Construction
Designers work to bring dream homes to life Page B3
NOTEWORTHY “Watching the customers react to the poutine or the ice cream, whether it’s the first time or the sixth time, is what I love.” -Robert Chapin of What’s the Scoop?
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It’s a scenario that’s growing increasingly common across the state: “I’m thinking of building a guest home/mother-in-law suite in my backyard,” a woman wrote recently in a local online group, asking for advice on how to start the process and a general picture of the cost. She signed off by saying, “(I’m) hoping our city codes let us.” The woman lives in West Richland, but others in the Tri-Cities and across Washington are grappling with those same questions as the demand for more diversified and lower-cost housing options grows. One of those options is an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, sometimes called a “mother-in-law apartment” or “backyard cottage.” An ADU can be attached to or detached from a main residence; it’s a small, self-contained unit on the same lot as a single-family home. ADUs are often used for relatives of the property owner, from young adults just starting out to aging parents or grandparents. But they’re increasingly becoming an option beyond family as well, especially as communities across the country continue to feel a housing squeeze. Interest in ADUs is exploding on the west side, particularly in Seattle, which updated its ADU rules in 2019. It remains to be seen whether there will be similar demand in the Tri-Cities, although Pasco has seen a significant increase in ADU permit applications since it changed its ADU rules last year. While that city is ahead of the pack locally when it comes to easing the path for ADUs, Kennewick is in the process of making its own code changes. And a new state law loosening ADU regulations means other local jurisdictions will be making adjustments to their rules in the next few years. “I don’t know if the need is the same as in King County. It’s a different ballgame over there,” said Steve Donovan, planning manager for the city of Kennewick. But the coming changes “are defiuADU, Page A11
Photo by Ryan Jackman Ashwin Joshi, a Southridge High School senior, has already started his own nonprofit and developed a curriculum focused on boosting knowledge about money. He’s also launched a school club on financial literacy in Kennewick and Richland.
Southridge senior kick-starts nonprofit to promote teen financial literacy By Robin Wojtanik
for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business
While some teens used the pandemic shutdown to play Minecraft or learn TikTok dances, Ashwin Joshi was reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” a book published decades ago about increasing your financial IQ. It was the start of the 17-year-old’s mission to empower youth and educate them about financial literacy through the nonprofit, school club and online resources he developed for the Ashwin Teen Financial Academy, or ATFA. It’s all a “teens teaching teens” effort to be money wise. “My parents never told me to save my money, it was just innate,” Ashwin said.
It helped that he had his first checking account at age 6, a lemonade stand at age 7, and started asking his dad about the stock market at age 9, building on a shared interest with his father in growing investments. The senior at Southridge High School in Kennewick continued reading more on the topic, including “Think & Grow Rich,” a self-help book first published in the 1930s, and boned up on Warren Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders, helping to amass his wealth of money knowledge. Since age 15, he’s been developing his own custodial stock market account. He’s eager to share what he’s learned. Ashwin’s not trying to offer stock tips uJOSHI, Page A17
This Tri-Cities-based company is on a path of transformational growth By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz
Senske is a well-known name in the TriCities. If you spot a crew working on a lawn, trees or in pest control around town, you’re likely to see “Senske Services” emblazoned on their rigs. And if you’ve ever been to the popular annual holiday light show on North Quay Street in Kennewick, you’ve been in the Senske orbit. That’s a Senske Services production, staged at the corporate headquarters. But the company that started as a family-run operation 76 years ago has a reach far beyond the Tri-Cities. It now has 27 locations across eight states – and a great
deal more growth is planned. Senske late last year partnered with the private equity firm GTCR, and it has acquired six other lawn care or pest control companies in the months since – on the top of the transformational growth it already had experienced in the months and years leading up to that deal. Since 2012, more than 28 companies have joined Senske Services. There are no plans to slow down, said Casey Taylor, chief executive officer. “We expect to do 10 to 15 acquisitions a year, some small and some large. We’ve got a lot of the U.S. to cover,” he said. Recent acquisitions have ranged from uSENSKE, Page A4
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