Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Local Infrastructure Trails topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council authorizes de minimis approval for Fourth Street bridge work; Breezy Creek trail to close during construction
Summary
The city authorized a de minimis finding to allow Fourth Street bridge construction to proceed with temporary closures and access changes to the Breezy Creek trail; Council approved the motion by voice vote.
La Center City Council voted to authorize a de minimis finding for the Fourth Street widening and bridge replacement project, allowing construction activities that will temporarily close portions of the Breezy Creek trail and enable upstream fish passage improvements.
Tony Cooper, city engineering staff, told council the Fourth Street project uses federal funds and therefore requires Washington State Department of Transportation environmental concurrence. WSDOT asked the city to obtain a de minimis determination for minor impacts to trail access during construction. Cooper said the project will build a new bridge over Breezy Creek and will require closing the trailhead and roughly 600 feet of trail north of Fourth Street while work is underway; council members and Cooper estimated construction could last about a year and a half to two years.
Cooper described a separate but related stream-restoration action upstream: removal of a Mill Pond culvert/dam and regrading of the creek to remove a fish barrier, which would enable fish to travel about 2,000 feet upstream. To perform that work, trucks and construction access will cross the trail in a section north of the dam, requiring temporary closure of that segment. Cooper said the contractor will stage the bridge construction in halves (south half first, transfer traffic, then north half) and that provisions will be made for pedestrian movement during some construction phases, but the under-bridge trail sections would be inaccessible while grading and culvert removal proceed.
Council action: A motion "to authorize approval of the de minimis impact to the Breezy Creek Trail as part of the Fourth Street construction project" was moved and seconded and passed by voice vote. The motion’s mover and seconder were not named on the record; the vote was recorded as an affirmative voice vote and the motion passed.
Why it matters: Cooper said the creek work will remove a fish barrier and extend fish passage upstream about 2,000 feet, but the trail will be closed for an extended construction period. He also said the de minimis approval is a formal environmental-step required by WSDOT and FHWA because of the federal funds involved.
What the city said it will do: Cooper and staff said they will pursue design refinements to maintain pedestrian access when safe and provide public information on trail closures. The project design is expected to be completed in April and construction could run one to two years once started.
