Council denies petition to vacate southerly section of McCabe Street adjacent to Pioneer Middle School

The Walla Walla City Council denied a petition to vacate the southerly portion of McCabe Street between Block 13 and Block 14 in the Watertown addition, following a public hearing in which Walla Walla Public Schools and neighbors urged the council to preserve the right of way.

The petition was brought by two adjacent property owners who asked the city to vacate the southern 157'167 feet of McCabe Street. Petitioners said vacation would allow them to consolidate property, bring the intersection up to current ADA corners without city expense, and they offered to grant a 20-foot emergency access if the council denied the request.

Walla Walla Public Schools Superintendent Wade Smith urged denial because the street provides the only vehicle-accessible route to the west end of Pioneer Middle School campus and its athletic fields. "Vacating the street significantly endangers emergency response," Smith said, adding the asphalt path on Roosevelt is not traffic-rated for heavy vehicle use and that there is no fire hydrant on the west end of campus.

Neighbors and petitioners said the street has been difficult for years and that petitioners planned to invest in improvements if the vacation were approved. "With all the issues that we've had, it came up that the public right-of-way vacation was an option," petitioner Casey Lindsey told the council, offering to pay for emergency access improvements himself.

Council members pressed staff on alternatives and precedent. Planning and public-works staff said the street lacks utilities and through traffic and that the planning commission had recommended denial after the school district expressed concerns. Council members raised public-safety and precedent considerations during deliberations; several noted the right of way has been used during recent construction and for emergency access to the school campus.

Outcome and reasoning: Council voted to deny the petition; the motion to deny passed unanimously. Members said the street serves multiple public uses, including emergency access, construction staging and future maintenance needs for the school.

Next steps: A denial concludes the petition process; if the petitioners want to pursue changes they must work with staff and nearby property owners on alternative solutions (for example, curb cuts or fenced access on Roosevelt) or refile a petition in future with additional support and designs. The council directed staff to preserve public safety as the priority when responding to related requests.

Votes and outcome: Council denied the petition to vacate; the motion carried unanimously.