Proposal For Sunset Hill Raises Traffic Concerns Plans For Office Buildings May Require Traffic Light

A proposal to build two new office buildings on Sunset Hill may yield a new traffic light to handle the added volume of cars.

The office buildings are proposed for property along Assembly Road just north of Sunset Boulevard. The developers have applied for a zone change.

A traffic engineering study done by the developers shows the offices would draw several hundred cars a day.

Most of the drivers would use one of two intersections on Sunset Boulevard. They are Assembly and Sunset and Rustle and Sunset. Neither has a traffic light.

“Ultimately, there’s going to be a need for a light at one of those intersections,” said John Konen, a private engineering consultant working on the project through Evans and Associates.

Sunset Boulevard in recent years has become popular for office uses because of its proximity to downtown and the airport, as well as its views and accessibility.

Neighbors are gearing up to fight the project, which they say is too large and incompatible with neighboring open spaces.

“Most of us moved to the area because it is county and it is designated as rural,” said Robbi Castleberry, a neighbor in the area.

City traffic engineers said the current vehicle volume at the top of the hill is already busy enough to cause delays at the unsignaled intersections.

Those intersections are not scheduled for traffic signals under the city’s current six-year street plan.

If the city approves the zone change and the new offices are built, the intersections could become bogged down with traffic. That would increase the hazards to drivers, said Lou Dobberstein of traffic engineering.

The traffic engineering department is asking for a traffic light. It could be installed by the developer prior to construction, or the project could be delayed until it is installed at a later date. The cost is $120,000 to $150,000.

The developer’s traffic study suggested that the developers could pay for about 11 percent of the cost of a traffic light based on the amount of traffic from the offices that would use the intersections.

Konen said there is enough growth on the Sunset Hill to justify sharing the cost of a traffic signal among several projects.

The developer’s traffic study showed that the offices would bring as many as 124 cars to the neighborhood during the busiest hour of the evening rush period.

The five-acre property at Assembly and Deska overlooks Indian Canyon Golf Course to the north, and has partial views of the downtown area.

Canyon Place Partnership owns the property. The investment group is being led by Bill Lawson of A & A Construction Co. of Spokane.

The two office buildings each would be four stories tall. The developers plan to add architectural amenities to make the buildings attractive in the neighborhood. A skywalk would connect the buildings. A parking lot would hold 266 cars.

The property previously had been considered for apartments and is zoned for that type of use. But the property is so rocky that it was not possible to design a workable apartment complex on the acreage.

A community meeting to explain the project to residents of the area was held on Jan. 2 and several residents complained about the timing of the meeting on a holiday weekend.

Neighbors also expressed concerns about lights being kept on in the offices at night, the loss of native habitat and the conflict of allowing offices next to a semi-rural zone.

Castleberry owns property to the northwest of the project that was placed in a conservation easement as wildlife habitat.

The proposed project is just inside the city limits. The county land west of Assembly Road is zoned for rural use and is not included in the proposed urban boundary under Growth Management.

Neighbors said they would prefer a smaller scale project if the property is going to be developed.

The developer still has not posted public notices of application for the zone change. Those notices must be mailed to nearby property owners. Also, a sign notifying the public of the application must be erected at the site. Then, the public would have 15 days to comment.

After the comment phase, the developer would then be able to schedule a hearing before the city hearing examiner. Once the hearing is scheduled, the notice process is repeated.