Latest News   Home   Table of Contents   Taking Action   Fundraising

In the News   Traffic Hearing   Letter to the Proponent   Neighborhood Watch

 Spring 2006 Update     MAY 2007     Fall 2006 Update

Are you motivated enough to read the Spokane County Dept. of Building & Planning Comprehensive Plan? We now have the link to this website here.

October 21, 2004

Dear Neighbors,
Thank you all so much for showing your support last night at the traffic hearing.  Having the mass number of people attend sent a very large message to the County, State, the Traffic Engineer and the proponent.  Our main goal was to get all the concerns put on record, and to let the County and State see and hear how many people were concerned.  They are the decision makers as to how large the scope of the traffic study will be and seeing everyone there let them know that it cannot be looked at lightly. 

This hearing was the first step in this process.  Ann Winkler, the Traffic Engineer, hired by the proponent, conducted the meeting.  Other attendees that you may not have seen were Greg Figg from the Department of Transportation and Greg Baldwin from the County Engineering Department.  They were taking notes and listening to all the concerns.  We provided them a copy of the summarized concerns that we read along with the detail that each one of you provided me (Helen) through email or on paper.  For those of you who were not able to attend, but sent me your concerns, they were placed into record and given to all pertinent people.  I spoke with both Greg's after the meeting.  They were very impressed with the number of attendees and greatly appreciated the written comments and the courtesy extended from everyone during the meeting. 

As part of the agenda, they were also asking for other concerns of the project to be expressed.  We did not expand on the other concerns of the community and deferred them to read the letters submitted to the County file.  We did not want to minimize the significance of the concerns by identifying them in this format.  This is also part of the record.  If you would like an electronic copy of this letter, with the summarized concerns, please let us know.

The next step will include the County Engineer Dept and DOT meeting with Ann to determine the scope of the study.  This could be as small as just the intersection of Hwy 195 and Stutler Road or larger to include many of the other intersections and/or county roads that were mentioned.  They will use all the information provided to make this decision.  Once the scope is determined, Ann will conduct her study and then formulate solutions to address the concerns that she was asked to include in the scope.  This portion of the process is estimated to take between 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the size of the study required. 

After the conclusions are determined for mitigating the concerns, a notice will be posted defining the time and location of the final traffic meeting.  This meeting will allow Ann to present her study and conclusions.  This will be an informational meeting only.  We will be able to get clarification on the study and conclusions, but we will not be able influence the scope of the study any further.  This is why it was so important for everyone to attend and get their concerns heard.  We will notify everyone again by email, highway signs and a flyer of the date, time and location.

For those who were not at the meeting, we also had another guest , Greg Blessing, who was representing Mr. Rajewski.  He spoke on the record close to the end of the meeting.  He tried to address several of the traffic concerns he had heard throughout the evening and also said they would like to meet with groups of the community to hear many of the other concerns.  He went on to say that he thinks this quarry will be beneficial to the community and he believes they can address many of our concerns and make this workable.  He says all studies should be completed sometime around the beginning of the new year and anticipates the hearing before the Hearing Examiner after that time, depending on the scheduling  (late January to March).  This portion of the meeting brought about a higher level of participation and we appreciate the level of control everyone showed during this time.  It can be difficult to keep the emotions in tact in these circumstances. 

I spoke with Mr. Blessing later in the evening to let him know we would be happy to get a group or groups together to meet with him to discuss some of the other concerns but was very clear that our main goal is to stop this zone change.  In saying that though, there can be value in working with the proponent in setting limitations in areas that can be flexible in the unfortunate event this project would be approved.  We will seek advice from Stacy and our experts on this topic and work within their guidelines and recommendations.  We will pass their suggestions on to the community as they become available.

The County required the meeting be taped (audio) so it could be used for referral on the concerns.  The Alliance also taped the meeting (video) so we would have a copy.  This will be made available if anyone is interested in seeing it.

As you can tell, we were very pleased with the meeting and think we made great strides forward.  However, when many of us returned home, the pleasure quickly turned to frustration.  During the time of the meeting, someone decided to remove all the Paradise Alliance yard signs along Stutler Road, Keeney Road, Paradise Road and Smythe.  This is the second time since Saturday, but this encompassed a much larger area.  Many of these homeowners filed complaints with Crime Check as it is trespassing and theft of private property.  This is a concern of many people in the community and we are working to get this type of activity stopped.  Several calls have been made to Mr. Blessing requesting his assistance with this since he had spoken about wanting to work with us.  He did say he would make a phone call to the proponent and followed up with us the next day to let us know that there is no admittance of doing this, but Mr. Rajewski will talk to those close to him to let them know he doesn't condone this behavior. 

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for this type of childish behavior to occur in these types of emotional circumstances.  However, what is most important is that we do not fall into the same pitfall, as it would be a negative reflection on the community in the eyes of the media and the decision makers.  Through your support, the Alliance is able to take a legal and scientific approach to stopping this zone change and this approach, is key to our success and our credibility.    If anyone has information about the disappearance of the signs, or saw any vehicles, please let us know.  We do have a large number of extra signs so please contact Lee and Ruth Templeton at 448-0152 if you would like to replace them. 

We will continue to move forward toward meeting our goal.  Thank you all again for your continued support.  We look forward to seeing you all at the next General Meeting on November 4th at the Spangle Service Club.

Return to Home Page