Middleton approves draft comments on Highway 44 PEL study; schedules meeting with ITD and Highway District 4

The Middleton City Council voted to have staff present a draft comment letter responding to the State Highway 44 planning and environmental linkages (PEL) final report and authorized scheduling a special meeting with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) and Highway District 4 to discuss the study and signalization on Highway 44.

Public Works Director Jason Van Gilder briefed the council on the city's role in the two-and-a-half-year study and the rationale for the draft letter. "We have contributed over the last couple of years to several meetings with them and and provide input in lots of ways," Van Gilder said, and he told the council staff had not received all background reports ITD produced for the study.

The draft comment letter raises concerns about the study's methodology and proposed mitigations, and asks that several topics be covered in the formal NEPA review that will follow the PEL. Those topics include: how emergency response times were calculated, more transparency and source material behind presented data, mitigation commitments to protect downtown commercial and industrial plans (including Crane Creek), and clearer separation in public feedback between Middleton taxpayers and respondents from outside the city.

Councilman Tim O'Meara, Middleton's representative to the PEL technical team, said local public preferences reported at ITD open houses favored certain route alternatives. "They have, on their presentation boards shown that the public is not in favor of Routes 2 and 3, but was in favor of Routes 1 And 4 by an overwhelming majority," O'Meara said.

Mayor Hutchison said she had campaigned opposing a widened Highway 44 but told the council she would not block the city's submission of concerns. "I did not want Highway 44 widened, period," she said, but added she would allow the council to forward the letter.

The council approved the motion to present staff's draft comments with a request to incorporate concerns raised during the meeting, including more clarity on fire-department response-time data and survey methodology. The council then authorized staff to schedule a special meeting with ITD and Highway District 4 to discuss the PEL study and intersection signalization; staff reported ITD had proposed a September 25 meeting at 10 a.m. in Middleton and offered alternate dates in October or November if needed.

Council members said the special meeting should include governing-board representatives where possible so municipal officials can discuss issues directly with ITD and Highway District leadership.

The council's formal motions to have staff present the draft comments and to schedule the special meeting were moved and seconded and carried in the meeting.