Moscow-Pullman Corridor Plan Stalls Dozens Testify; Development Vote Put Off

The Whitman County Planning Commission delayed a decision allowing development in the Moscow-Pullman corridor Wednesday in response to pleas from the public and the state Department of Transportation.

Commissioners took comments from a crowd of about 90 people for nearly three hours Wednesday on an issue that has divided the two communities twice already this decade.

After zoning amendments allowing development in the corridor were defeated in 1990 and 1995, Whitman County officials were hoping the third time was a charm. But like past meetings, there were deep divisions about the future of the corridor, which links Moscow and Pullman via State Route 270 and is traveled by more than 12,000 commuters daily.

In a letter received Wednesday, the state Department of Transportation requested the commission delay any decision until after July, when the agency can present its plan for improving the highway.

The highly traveled route is near a regional airport and serves as a connector between two land grant universities whose presidents have both expressed support for careful corridor development.

Since 1998, it’s also been home to the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail, a popular pedestrian greenway that hugs Paradise Creek south of the highway.

University of Idaho planner Phillip Waite said he’s worried that new access roads and traffic could pose a hazard to students on the trail. Other opponents said development would transform a pastoral scene of wetlands, wildlife and rolling hills into a strip of snarled traffic and ugly commercial development.

Tom Lamar, executive director of the 700-member Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, warned that new corridor development could worsen congestion and draw existing city businesses into the county.

Both Pullman City Planner Pete Dickinson and Moscow Planner Dale Pernula expressed concern on behalf of the two municipalities that significant policy changes were going forward without a regional planning effort that included city officials.

Pullman City Councilman Rich Dougherty said Pullman officials had concerns about providing sewer, water, fire and police protection services along the corridor.

But proponents say the corridor’s obvious economic development potential for retail and light industry could promote cooperation between the two communities, boost tax revenues and diversify the region’s agricultural-based economy.

“The only way this county is going to be able to maintain a financial base of support is to get away from agriculture and develop business and until you do that you are going to be a backwater from now on,” said Basil Hartley of St. John.

This week, a local doctor told the planning commission that three groups of physicians would move their offices to a new women’s birthing center in the corridor if new construction was allowed there.

But DOT Regional Administrator Jerry Lenzi asked that any formal action be put off until July, when DOT expects to have a plan for improvements.