Planning Commission
Special Meeting
November 15, 2007
Vice Chairperson, Irv Schick, called a Special Meeting of the Planning Commission to order at 6:05 p.m. He gave a brief description of the agendas for this evening’s meetings. He explained that Curt Kelling, City Administrator will be leading the conversation on transportation issues today and into the future. Mr. Schick asked that all comments, during the Public Participation period, be kept to a minimum of three minutes or less.
Roll call was taken with the following commissioners in attendance: Doug Sassman, Kevin Herda, Alice Crowley, Irv Schick, Daniel Voltz. Tom Bristol had requested an excused absence and it was unknown why Bill Davies was not in attendance. (Note: Mr. Davies arrived at 7:45 p.m.)
Curt Kelling began the meeting by noting that there would be no sweeping decisions made this evening. Tonight’s meeting would be recap of information that has been discussed in regards to transportation issues in and around Chewelah. He presented a history of all of the studies that have been done on SR 395. It was noted that in 1999 a Washington State Environmental Assessment stated that a Second Street West Route was the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) preferred route.
In 1999, the City of Chewelah made an attempt to create a plan for an alternate route as a part of their Downtown Revitalization Project. There was a Town Hall meeting with about 100 citizens in attendance. A Second Street East route was voted in as the preferred alternate route of the City at this meeting. Curt noted that this route does not appear to be feasible. Funding sources would be limited, at best, due to the proximity of this route to the Chewelah Creek. Federal Funding would not be allowed due to the F-4 Exemption which disallows the removal of any kind of recreation facility in order to replace it with a street.
Since the decision made in 1999, there has been no further work done on transportation planning projects. However, the traffic problems continue to increase. Curt expressed an interest in learning if the citizens could be more interested in a by-pass route or a truck route. He explained that there is a difference between the two, even though the two terms tend to get mixed together. His definition of a by-pass would be a transfer of ALL traffic past the city. A truck route would be a transportation alternative for the truck traffic only.
At this point, there have been no proposed changes to the 1997 Comprehensive Plan by the Planning Commission or the Administrative Office. However, there is effectively a financial stalemate between the City and WSDOT where the state will likely not fund a route option that is outside of the route that they have proposed. Also, the City has not been effective in presenting alternate routes in order to persuade WSDOT into changing their position. The goal of the planning process is to determine what route that the city and citizens want to recommend to WSDOT, if they do not want to use the route that is preferred by WSDOT. However, this may result in time delays, and the traffic volume on SR 395 will continue to increase until it is impossible to access it from city streets or WSDOT may opt to build a route completely around the City, although Mr. Kelling does not anticipate that this would happen. Mr. Kelling also mentioned a route using the current railroad right of way, which is still currently being used by the railroad. However, it is unlikely that the City would have enough clout to actually move the railroad.
Mr. Kelling proposed utilizing a group from the American Planning Association, which provides a Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT) to review issues that face cities/communities. They offer professionals from the states land use departments, transportation, economic development, urban design, natural resources, parks and recreation, historic preservation and other areas. They would help with the evaluation of past decisions and assist with guiding future decisions. He suggested having City Council request their services so that these issues can be worked on through the winter months and early spring and ultimately brought back to a bigger public meeting with the Planning Commission and the City Council to discuss the results. Mr. Kelling noted that this is not an easy issue to solve. There are financial issues and there are liabilities to the community. The City needs to find a balance between it’s liabilities and the transportation issues. He pointed out the challenges now faced by the residents on Flowery Trail.
Mr. Kelling then shared the progression that is currently taking place in Rupert, British Columbia. They have built a new deep water sea port, and it now takes two to three days less to travel by ship from China then any other ports in western side of North America. They have also added a new set of high speed cranes that will unload ships approximately 40% faster than any other port has. This creates a backflow of truck traffic which is being partially addressed with a commercial truck center out of Spokane. The City of Spokane is hoping that the transporting of the shipping boxes from Rupert will go down SR 395 to Spokane and on to Chicago. They would like to see SR 395 become a commercial truck route. SR 395 is currently listed as number 14 on the Federal Department of Transportation’s list of priorities for development in regards to NAFTA.
Mr. Kelling reinterated that there will be no decision made at this evenings meetings. He is still trying to understand the history of the transportation decisions that have been made.
Mr. Schick opened the public comment period. The first citizen to speak was Linda Johnson, W 106 Washington Avenue, Chewelah. She began by informing the planning commission that in 1995 she was the chairperson of the Community Action Team (CAT) that was responsible for all of the studies that were done on transportation. The CAT worked very closely with Brent Rasmussen, WSDOT, and took several days to look at possible transportation routes in and around Chewelah. The Second Street West route was the favored route by WSDOT at that time. In discussions they had with the railroad at that time, their was no way that the railway would allow the Second Street West route. After research with WSDOT and the railroad, it was determined that a Second Street East route would disrupt only two houses and would impact the City’s swimming pool. However, at that time, WSDOT was willing to provide funding to replace the pool. The Second Street East route would also impact the Little League Field, but funding was offered from WSDOT to move and improve this facility as well. Ms. Johnson asked what had been done by the City since this last plan had been created. She was not in favor of any new planning team visits for the purpose of discussing transportation issues. Ms. Johnson quoted from the 2000 Chewelah Regeneration Document that stated that the suggested Second Street East route would go to the City Council and that the participants in the decision making for this route represented a good cross section of the community. Based on the criteria which received the highest priority from the citizens and the overwhelming support, the consulting team was authorized to proceed with the plans for this route. This served as and indicator to Ms. Johnson that the City Council was in favor of this route as well. She suggested that there was already a plan in place and that we should contact the railroad.
Gill Robison, 701 N.2nd Street spoke on various other options for alternate transportation routes. He asked about the gravel options west of town as well as increasing traffic lights. He noted that he had moved from Seattle to a quite neighborhood and would not be in favor of loosing that with increased traffic in his backyard. There is room out west of town that could be used to route traffic.
Ms. Johnson spoke again. She noted that there were other options that were discussed when she was assisting with the transportation issues. They included to do away with all of the parking on SR 395 and to add a turn lane in the middle. WSDOT had told her that there would be no cost to Chewelah for this option.
Mr. Kelling noted that Brent Rasmussen no longer works for WSDOT, and that the current WSDOT Staff does not agree with the Second Street East option. Parking has been discussed with the City Council, and needs to be further addressed. The addition of a turn lane on SR 395 would no longer work due to the increase of truck traffic off of the Flowery Trail route.
Bob Playfair, 905 E. Stingy Lane, Chewelah spoke. He noted that he is probably the most impacted by the cities decision in regards to the city’s planning efforts over the last 15 years. He reminded the Planning Commission that the size of trucks has been increased by the Federal DOT. Due to the placement of SR 395 on the Federal DOT’s priority list, Mr. Playfair feels that the highway will be changed to four lanes from Spokane to the Canadian border in order to serve international truck traffic. Mr. Playfair indicated that having the CPAT team visit Chewelah would be helpful, since there would be people involved with more experience than the citizens of Chewelah. He also suggested looking at alternatives in regards to the railroad that runs through town. One alternative would be to move the railroad out of town and keep SR 395 as is, or the Federal Government (DOT) will determine that the SR 395 should be moved outside of town. The advantage to talking with the railroad now would be that Burlington Northern no longer owns the railroad. It is now owned by OmniTrax out of Canada. By offering to eliminate the 25 mph that the railroad must currently adhere to and allowing them to travel through the valley at 60 mph, they may be more interested in the first option Mr. Playfair suggested. This option could be funded by the DOT. He agreed with Mr. Kelling’s suggestion of bringing in a Planning Team to discuss the transportation issues.
Jim Flower, 107 W. Lincoln Avenue, Chewelah stated that what he is hearing in regards to the increased truck traffic makes the “unthinkable even unimaginable”, if an alternate route were to go on Second Street West. He expressed concerns about the children, animals and buildings in that area and their safety. His suggestion was to create a 4-lane route that will by-passes the City of Chewelah.
Armando Gonazlez, W 205 Jenkins, Chewelah stated that he does not want the truck traffic to continue through the City of Chewelah. However, the citizens still want the tourist traffic. He has lived in this community for over 27 years and feels that anyone that WANTS to come to Chewelah will come to Chewelah. A by-pass for the over-sized trucks would eliminate the damage to the newly finished streets. Skiers and others that want to come to Chewelah will continue to do so. It would be easier to start fresh with a by-pass, then to tear up the work that has already been done on the streets in Chewelah.
Ralph Walter, 2408 Flowery Trail, Chewelah stated that there were a couple of things that he wanted to address. One thing was that if the Chewelah is looking for ways to deal with commercial traffic, the city currently does not have a light industry development area and an alternate route would automatically dovetail with the creation of an industrial area. The west side of the city offers available land for an industrial park and would help encourage economic development for the community. The other issue was a suggestion that if another planning team were brought in, what kind of impact would they have on WSDOT and standing with the Federal Government and the Railroad? If they don’t have any impact, then additional meetings would be a waste of time.
Bill Johnson, W. 106 Washington Avenue, Chewelah, asked where any funding for another planning team would come from. Mr. Kelling replied that the service is offered free of charge. Mr. Johnson answered that the City has already spent a small fortune on the engineering firm that was hired for the last plan. If the WSDOT doesn’t like the results of that plan, then they should pay for another. Mr. Johnson also commented that WSDOT has not finished the North South Freeway because they have no money. If they want a change in plans, then they should have to pay for it. Even if Mr. Rasmussen is now retired, when the plan was done he went through the proper channels and did everything as it was to be done. Mr. Johnson stated that if they want to bypass the town, but the City’s business people will not stand for that. The only alternative is according to the last study that was done. Mr. Johnson remarked that Mr. Kelling had made a statement that the Second Street East route would affect the City Park, and he did not agree with that statement. It would affect the Little League Park, but not the City Park. He has also heard that the Second Street East route would face environmental issues, but Mr. Johnson didn’t feel this would occur since we already cross the creek. He concluded that there was nothing wrong with the study that was done, if traffic is to be kept in town. If it is not the desire to keep the traffic in town, then WSDOT can put the route wherever they want to spend the money to place it. Mr. Johnson stated that it was a WSDOT issue and they should have pressure put on them to spend the money on their decision. However, WSDOT will have to work with the City.
Mr. Kelling stated that he is not pushing for any specific route. He is trying to sort through all of the information that has been provided. He noted that WSDOT previously pushed one alternative in the past, and now they are indicating that they will no longer support that alternative. WSDOT will be doing something to correct the situation. Chewelah is on their freight mobility radar screen – both on the federal and the state level.
Eliza Aly, 203 N. Second Street, Chewelah, shared that she feels that the negative impact to the community and to the neighborhoods (of running an alternate route down Second Street West) would far outweigh the benefit to the business community. The Second Street West route could take down approximately fifty trees and impact many homes. She asked why the things that were mentioned in the last plan in regards to the pool and parks are no longer valid. Mr. Kelling explained that since that report has been done, staff at WSDOT has completely changed. There has also been changes in the state legislature and laws. One of the biggest changes is the inclusion of the Shoreline Master Program which puts everything in regards to the Chewelah Creek under a new set of laws.
Ms. Aly asked about the effect of a bypass on the city. Would it cause downtown to be abandoned? Is there anyway to prevent strip malls, etc. from occurring?
Mr. Kelling replied that it depends on where things are located. If they are within city limits, the City has some control. However, if a by-pass runs in the county then Stevens County would have jurisdiction.
Ms. Aly asked for confirmation about WSDOT’s choice of routes. Mr. Kelling confirmed that the Second Street East route is WSDOT’s preferred route. This decision was presented in 1999 and has not changed since that time.
Ms. Aly asked why this situation has come up again. Mr. Kelling explained that it has to do with the Comprehensive Plan Updates and planning for the next twenty years.
Rose Walter, 2408 Flowery Trail Road, Chewelah asked if anyone is aware what effect the new truck route has had on the City of Colville. Mr. Kelling shared that it has had a positive effect on traffic by decreasing it. Businesses are doing better because people visiting downtown are able to move around the city more easily. Tracy Ferrell added that she resides two blocks off of Main Street and downtown Colville is much more pedestrian friendly now. Ms. Walter asked if rumors that the railroad (Kettle Falls Railway) is working on building up their rail traffic from Canada. Mr. Kelling has not had a conversation with the railway in regards to this, but may have a contact in Trail, B.C.
Public Participation time was closed by Mr. Schick.
Mr. Herda asked Chaz Bates if they Second Street East route was a part of the 1997 Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Bates replied that it was not included in the plan. Mr. Herda added that since the Colville truck route has just recently opened, there may not be good data on its effect yet. He has heard differently from downtown merchants that the truck route has caused people to by-pass downtown and business traffic is actually down. He concluded that he concurs with the audience sentiments that a study was done ten years ago and there is no need to do another one. He used the Colville project as an example of creating a plan and then getting it implemented and completed. Mr. Kelling countered that it took 23 years to complete that project. Mr. Herda did not agree. He feels that the City failed to do anything in regards to the plan, and it is the City’s responsibility to take any action at this point.
Mr. Herda asked what the next step might be for the Planning Commission. Mr. Bates replied that this was an open forum to hear the citizens’ ideas. Mr. Kelling added that the priority has been Main Street and not SR 395 in the past.
Alice Crowley commented that the previous plans did not look at the “Big Picture”. In the past eight years the entire traffic pattern of Chewelah has changed. The impact of the trucks through the village has caused grave safety issues. She suggested that the City consider that it is now time to react and plan, taking into consideration all of the changes that have recently taken place as well as those that will continue to take place.
Mr. Schick asked that the Special Meeting be adjourned so that the Regular Meeting could begin. If necessary any further comments can be added during Public Testimony time during the Regular meeting. The Special Meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m., and the Regular meeting will be called to order promptly at 7:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
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Tracy Ferrell, Executive Secretary Irv Schick, Vice Chairperson
