Citizens Back County’s Valley Couplet Plan At Hearing

A controversial Spokane Valley road project several years in the making cleared a public hearing Wednesday night with little more than a whisper of criticism.

Of the three dozen or so people who attended the hearing at the Valley’s Red Lion Inn, only seven testified. Testimony took only 28 minutes.

Many opened by praising county engineers for working diligently to present a compromise. Previously proposed road projects, most notably the South Valley Arterial, have drawn considerable criticism from people who said the road would pull cars away from businesses along Sprague Avenue and pump additional automobile exhaust and noise into the Dishman Hills Natural Area.

“It seems to me over the past 18 months you have worked to address these problems,” said Richard Mayer, a Valley resident of about 20 years.

Despite the changes, concerns about access and the proximity of the eastbound set of lanes to the Dishman Hills area still were voiced by a few people.

Terry Little, a Valley resident for more than 20 years, was critical of a shortage of streets connecting the couplet’s two legs. Motorists will have to drive three blocks in several cases to turn around and patronize businesses that face the opposite set of lanes, said Little, who also prefaced her comments by praising county engineers for their hard work and determination.

“I keep hearing people say, ‘This is going to be great. It’s going to be like Ruby-Division and ArgonneMullan,”’ Little said. “I would take exception to that.”

Legs of the North Side’s Ruby-Division couplet and the Valley’s Argonne-Mullan couplet run about one block apart and are connected by intersecting streets at nearly every block.

The proposed Valley Couplet is separated by three blocks at its widest point. Connecting streets are less frequent, Little said.

Robert Henry, Opportunity resident and general manager of a Spokane advertising firm, agreed with Little’s assessment and encouraged engineers to continue consulting business owners along the Sprague corridor before drawing final plans for the couplet.

“This project actually proposes to redevelop the business district through the heart of the Spokane Valley,” Henry said.

Opportunity resident Tom Rogers was the only one who opposed the couplet, calling it a “short-sighted and damaging project to the community.”

The four eastbound lanes planned along First and Second avenues and the old Milwaukee Railroad right of way will cut through residential neighborhoods, sending more cars zipping through at higher speeds, and limit already tight housing space in the area. The eastbound leg also cuts too close to the Dishman Hills and will spew high levels of automobile emissions, said Rogers, who was reading from a list of 10 criticisms.

“We should be encouraging mass transit,” Rogers said. “One bus could take the place of 20 of our autos.”

Even the Spokane Valley Business Association, which filed a lawsuit in 1994 to stop the South Valley Arterial project, supports the couplet proposal. The group’s only concern lies with plans to reduce the number of lanes along Sprague from seven to five, said Martin Burnette, a consultant who represents the Sprague business owners, during an interview Thursday.

Narrowing the road would be a waste of money because eventually engineers will need to widen it, Burnette said. Business owners also don’t want to take care of the extra property, which engineers have proposed as green space.

That difference aside, the success of the Ruby-Division and ArgonneMullan couplets has been enough to convince Valley business owners the couplet will work, Burnette said. Staples, a national office supply chain, recently moved into a building along the Ruby-Division couplet because of the improved traffic flow, he said.

“It proves that that project improved that area,” Burnette said.

The Sprague business owners did not testify at Wednesday’s hearing. They plan to submit written comments, Burnette said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CARE TO COMMENT? Written comments on the proposed Valley Couplet will be accepted until 5 p.m. on March 18. Comments should be submitted to the Spokane County Public Works Department, Division of Engineering and Roads, 1026 W. Broadway, Spokane, WA, 99260-0170, Attn: James S. Haines, P.E.