During the annual State of the City address on Tuesday, Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson addressed the city’s snow budget, which more than doubled from last year with this winter’s heavy snowfall, and the proposed mixed-use development downtown.

Pullman spent just over $40,000 on the snow budget last year, compared to about $100,000, including a 2,100-hour increase in labor costs. This year, nearly 800 of those hours were in overtime, while last year about 300 were overtime hours, Johnson said.

“You can see we had quite an eventful year,” he said.

This year, the city used 271 tons of liquid de-icer, compared to the 171 tons used last year, and twice as much rock salt at 120 tons.

“We had a very robust year as far as everything else,” Johnson said.

He then talked about the development of a new five-story building downtown. The first floor will house retail stores while the other four will house apartments, he said.

“[The development] is really transformational,” Johnson said. “And I am really excited about that.”

A few months ago, Johnson visited Bothell and spoke with Mayor Andy Rheaume for a board meeting. Rheaume pointed to an apartment building down the street from the city hall and said the downtown’s development all started with that building.

Johnson believes the same could be true for Pullman.

“Imagine what a shot in the arm [the new building] is going to be for our community,” he said.

Kirk Schulz brought up concerns with Pullman’s downtown when he first became WSU president, Johnson said.

Johnson mentioned the interest that developers and real estate corporations have in the city right now. Fujiyama Japanese Steak House and Bar will open on April 20, he said.

“Things are evolving,” Johnson said.

On top of that, the mayor brought up the development of a new elementary school and the community support for the program.

“We have a fantastic school system,” he said.

Johnson then talked about the “great” regional cooperation Pullman experiences, including the construction of the airport, which he said is making good progress.

The biggest obstacle this project has faced is the relocation of the WSU animal research labs, he said. There isn’t any laid out Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) procedure for the relocation, while there is for most other parts of the airport renovation.

“So we’re going through and somewhat pioneering our way through that,” Johnson said.

Another part of the airport board’s recent negotiations has included an instrument landing system for the Pullman-Moscow planes, similar to the one used by Spokane International Airport and Sea-Tac. After speaking with the FAA in Washington, D.C., and their congressional representatives, the board has gotten the federal agency to agree to build this system and maintain it for the first five years.

An instrument landing system guides an approaching aircraft laterally and vertically as it lands on a runway, using radio signals and sometimes high-intensity lighting arrays.

The next airport board meeting will take place on April 26 at 3 p.m.