Neighbors say roads need more than patch

Three Spokane Valley neighborhoods are stuck between a patch and a hard place.

Spokane County is due to tear up their roads and install sewer lines to replace septic tanks this year. But when the trenches are sealed up, the roads in the Sherwood Forest, Mica Park and Johnston neighborhoods will only get a patch to cover the holes – not the curb-to-curb or full-width paving that most other Valley neighborhoods received when sewer lines were installed.

Not only is that not fair, but paving the road fully now would save money in the long run, Sherwood Forest resident Dick Brantley said.

“We’re talking about getting the most for our dollar,” he said during a break in the Spokane Valley City Council meeting Tuesday. “It seems to make good economic sense to do the full road.”

Brantley and three others urged the council to pay what they called a relatively small amount to fully pave the roads or ask the county to halt sewer installation until money is available. Though the cost of full-width paving is proving to be half what the council once thought, the deputy mayor and city manager made it clear they’re not comfortable using city funds for the work.

The county brings in the sewer lines and pays the cost of covering the holes it digs, but taking advantage of a road already under construction and enhancing it with full-width paving is the city of Spokane Valley’s decision – and its cost obligation.

Facing a tight budget, the Spokane Valley City Council put a bond on the ballot in September that would have raised money for future full-width paving. If it had passed, property taxes would have gone up to the pre-incorporation level, breaking a 2002 promise by city backers who vowed taxes would go down with a yes vote on incorporation.

The bond needed 60 percent approval to pass, but only 49 percent of voters were in favor. Deputy Mayor Richard Munson said Tuesday that told him the residents don’t see full-width paving as a priority.

In newspaper articles, “we clearly said we need to be able to sustain curb-to-curb paving for a six-year period, and voters clearly said ‘no,’ ” he said. “Voters said they didn’t think it was important enough to pay for it.”

Water and other elements can seep under patches causing faster deterioration of roads than if they were sealed with a full layer of asphalt.

Munson said Tuesday that he agrees with the neighbors that full-width paving is better but that he couldn’t ignore the results of the election.

In an e-mail to Public Works Director Neil Kersten, City Manager Dave Mercier shared Munson’s interpretation.

“Regardless of the total cost for full-width paving, my response is the same: the voters decided the ballot issue specific to this matter and the council adopted a budget consistent with voter action,” Mercier wrote.

But neighbors said the city’s pre-election education effort wasn’t good enough.

“Nobody thought of asking the neighbors for their thoughts on the project,” Sherwood Forest resident Steve Durgin told the council.

Council members have said the city could have improved its public outreach effort on that issue and recently agreed to hire a public information officer to help communicate with the public.

Munson’s argument that the voters already have spoken on full-width paving didn’t sit well with Brantley.

“Just because we voted down the Valley road bond doesn’t mean we don’t want good roads,” he said.

Councilman Gary Schimmels made similar remarks Monday. Schimmels was absent Tuesday, but in an interview said the September vote was more about rejecting a tax increase than opposing good roads.

According to Kersten, fully paving the three neighborhoods would cost the city $250,000, or about half as much as the council thought it would cost when it put the issue up for a vote.

“It’s not that much money in a $30 million budget,” Schimmels said, referring to the city’s general fund. “I think common sense has to prevail.”

Other neighborhoods will receive sewer lines this summer, but their roads are so narrow that the patch is equivalent to full-width paving.

The full-width paving issue was only discussed during the public comment period Tuesday. Munson said he expects the council to address it formally.