Transportation plan OK’d

Tuesday’s Spokane Valley City Council meeting was a mixed bag, with some decisions getting a unanimous vote and others vigorous debate.

The council took its final look at the 2011-’16 Transportation Improvement Plan, which includes a list of all road construction projects the city anticipates doing in the next six years. Councilwoman Brenda Grassel said she noticed that the plan didn’t include any money for regular road maintenance and preservation. “You have no funding source for that,” she said. She asked when maintenance would take precedence over construction and if funding could be adjusted to pay for maintenance projects.

“We can make changes to the six-year plan at any time,” said engineer Steve Worley.

Many of the projects included in the plan are to reconstruct or replace streets and intersections, such as reconstructing Park Road from Broadway Avenue to Indiana Avenue and replacing the intersection at Indiana and Sullivan Road.

Councilman Bill Gothmann pointed out that project No. 30 scheduled for 2016 would extend Appleway Boulevard from University Road to Evergreen Road. “After all, I don’t want any surprises for council members,” he said.

“I don’t know that we can talk about the extension of Appleway when we don’t own the land,” said Mayor Tom Towey. “I can’t understand that. Talks to the county and talks to STA are not happening.”

The six-year TIP was approved unanimously with councilman McCaslin absent. The council also unanimously approved awarding the bid for the reconstruction of the Sprague and Sullivan intersection to Acme Concrete for $835,000. The city has received a federal grant that will cover 86.5 percent of the cost. “The bids came in quite a bit lower than our original estimate,” said Worley.

Before the vote, however, Councilman Dean Grafos brought up his argument that leaving the intersection partially open for eight weeks would be better than closing it completely for three weeks. Worley said at a previous meeting that leaving the intersection partially open would cost at least an additional $120,000 to build and the project would have to be completely redesigned, pushing construction to next year.

“We had talked about leaving that open,” Grafos said. “What we’re saving by not keeping that intersection open is $16,000.”

The council again voted unanimously to award the bid for the reconstruction of Broadway from Moore Street to Flora Road to MJM Grand for $1,298,320. A state grant will provide 79.5 percent of the funding. The project includes a roundabout at Broadway and Flora and sewer work that will be reimbursed by Spokane County, Worley said. Broadway from Moore to Conklin Road will have two traffic lanes in each direction, a center turn lane, sidewalks and bike lanes. Broadway from the Kohl’s store to Flora will have the same three-lane configuration with bike lanes that some council members strongly objected to on Broadway from Pines to Park Road.

In other business, the council heard a report from Community Development Director Kathy McClung on paving requirements for parking lots. The issue came up when the owner of Evergreen State Towing said during the June 8 meeting he wanted to open an impound lot in Spokane Valley but didn’t want to pave the site.

The paving requirement is part of the city’s Comprehensive Plan and is a carryover from the Spokane County zoning requirements in effect when the city was formed. Paving keeps contaminants out of the aquifer, the sole source of drinking water in the Spokane area, and also reduces dust that may violate air quality restrictions, McClung said. The report indicated that “eliminating paving would be inconsistent with existing state mandates and would likely be appealed by agencies that protect water and air quality.” The council received a similar report on June 15 as well.

“I think the responsible thing to do is have the lots paved,” said Councilwoman Rose Dempsey.

Grassel said she would like the city to look at the requirements in the city of Spokane, which allow gravel lots. “It can cost up to $100,000 to pave a section of land,” she said, calling the requirement unfair to business. “The cost is just prohibitive.”

Dempsey said a towing company would likely have wrecked vehicles leaking oil and gas on the ground and paving is needed. “The value of the health of our community and the health of our aquifer belie your arguments,” she said.

Grafos said he valued air quality but said the requirement is “not a good idea in this climate.” He asked if property owners could use bonding to pay for paving in stages. “I think that would be the best of both worlds.”

“We have to give some exemptions if we want to increase our density,” Grassel said. In the end no one else on the council agreed with Grassel and Grafos, so the paving requirement will not be reconsidered.

The council also discussed Grafos’ proposal to put the issue of one-way versus two-way traffic on the Sprague/Appleway couplet on the November ballot. The council would have to approve a ballot measure by Aug. 10 in order to make it on the ballot, said acting City Manager Mike Jackson. The council would have to determine whether to convert the entire couplet or just a section of it and whether to also put a bond issue on the ballot to pay to convert the streets to two-way.

Three council members indicated that they wanted more time to make the decision. Councilman Gary Schimmels said he is in favor of putting the issue on the ballot, but not until spring. “I’d say right at this point it’s too much too soon,” he said. “We need some time.” Towey and Councilman Bill Gothmann indicated similar views.

Dempsey said she was “distressed” that the topic had been brought up again at all and worried that it would create uncertainty among business owners. “I’m really afraid about what this is going to do to our business community just bringing it up,” she said.

Grafos said having the issue on the ballot will decide the issue once and for all. “This has been going on now all of these years,” he said.

“This was decided once and for all by the last council,” Dempsey said. Last year the council voted to make Sprague and Appleway two-way streets between University and Argonne but to leave the rest of the couplet unchanged.

Jackson said he would do research, get cost estimates and look at funding options and hopefully bring the issue back to the council in two weeks.