Douglass Rejects Blame In Road Controversy

Harlan Douglass said last week he’s not to blame for the city deciding not to widen Indian Trail Road to five lanes as originally planned.

City officials recently announced, that in view of growth management, the city has determined that three lanes would be enough for build-out of the Indian Trail area.

However, Gale Olrich said the city still wants to offer developers the option of pre-building road improvements they may need if they develop their properties along Indian Trail Road in the future.

“The city does not benefit operationally from more than three lanes. We don’t have a need to go to that next level,” he said.

So, he asked Indian Trail developers to respond by today if they want to contribute land and a total of $580,000 to widen the road to five lanes.

“Developers might have to shoulder a bigger burden in the future, if traffic mitigations are required to facilitate their plans,” said Olrich.

“If they participate now, a wider street will already be there,” he said.

But developers thought they already were cooperating.

Most had verbally agreed last spring to sell the needed right of way to the city.

Dennis Beringer, city real estate manager, said the deal soured when representatives for Douglass made demands in exchange for right of way that the city couldn’t meet.

Douglass said he just wants the city to fix problems it caused.

Douglass said he offered to give the land to the city for free in exchange for some considerations.

The requests included fixing flood problems on his property aggravated by construction of the Strong Road water tank, construction of retaining walls, and providing access to his property through the proposed median.

Douglass said he had reached agreement with the city on those issues.

The only sticking point, Douglass said, was a driveway he wants, just south of the Shawnee intersection, to provide future access to his undeveloped Windhaven Apartments.

The city said no. Discussions ended.

“This gets worse all the time. No one can make a decision down there,” said Douglass.

His son, Harley Douglass, said he offered five years ago to widen Indian Trail Road at his own expense to three lanes between Shawnee and the landfill, but his offer was turned down by the city.

Neighborhood representatives, following the proposed road widening for years, were surprised to learn that the city hadn’t acquired the right of way long ago.

City Council member Cherie Rodgers worked on the Indian Trail Specific Plan, which recommends five lanes.

“I assumed they had the right of way, then all this happens,” said Rodgers.

She said she recalled an item on a September council agenda calling for right-of-way purchase agreements with developers, including Douglass. But at the last minute they were pulled from the agenda.

The $1.4 million in federal funding was pulled last July when the city was unable to secure the right of way.

City engineer Dick Raymond said the road was originally planned to be constructed in phases as funds became available.

“I was confident we could get all the right of way in place,” he said.

But federal guidelines for funding changed, requiring signed agreements for all right of way to be in place before the government would give the money.

The city has $1 million in federal money to use on the project, pending construction approval.

The city also received a $1.2 million state grant for the project, approved in 1993, to be used for design and right of way. About $300,000 remains for construction.

The balance of the project will be paid with local money.

Raymond said with the new design, the road will still be five lanes at intersections, will include bus turnouts, and will have traffic signals at three key intersections.

, DataTimes