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WSDOT limits construction hours for Lewis River Road subdivision; council weighs land-for-impact-fee proposal
Summary
The council discussed construction and permitting for an 85-home subdivision on Lewis River Road and said WSDOT restricted contractor hours at the highway crossing to 9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., a change the mayor said will delay completion and reduce traffic conflicts.
The council discussed ongoing construction and permitting for multiple Lewis River Road projects during the May 5 meeting, including a private subdivision of 85 single-family homes and a separate Riverwalk proposal that would add 17 lots along the river.
Mayor Todd Dinehart said the Lewis River Road work is being performed by a private contractor approved by the developer; the city allowed daytime construction generally from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but the Washington State Department of Transportation has restricted activity at the highway crossings to 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. while heavy equipment moves across the road. "WSDOT now has changed the construction time for those individuals out there to 09:30AM until 03:30PM," the mayor said, and he explained the reduced hours are intended in part to reduce conflicts with school buses.
The mayor described the contractor activity as primarily connecting sewer and water and said the change in allowable hours will delay the project's completion beyond earlier expectations. He said the contractor's work typically results in short traffic delays and that on busy days wait times had been up to about 10 minutes; site staff have been instructed to keep moves as brief as possible.
The mayor also described a developer offer to give the city a small parcel of land "a pie piece" near a gas pipeline instead of paying impact fees. "Taking a piece of land over there that is a pie is not something that I see advantageous to the city," Dinehart said, citing pipeline easements and the cost and difficulty of developing and supervising a remote park parcel. Council members agreed the city would prefer cash rather than the parcel.
Public Works reports at the meeting noted infrastructure work underway: one water filter (Filter No. 2) is complete, Filter No. 3 is roughly 30% complete, and a new 1.5-million-gallon water reservoir was under construction. The public works representative also said pothole mixed-patching would continue this season and that the Civic Center electrical work and community center interior work were nearing completion.
The Riverwalk hearing was scheduled with a hearing examiner for May 13; a planning-commission meeting on May 15 and a City Council workshop on the comprehensive plan were scheduled for May 19. The mayor said Riverwalk includes an existing 35-home phase and a proposal to add 17 more lots on roughly 9.5 acres along the river.
No formal council action on the Lewis River Road construction hours or the developer's parcel-for-impact-fees offer was recorded at the May 5 meeting; the mayor directed public works to follow up on site details and impact-fee accounting.
