[Vision2020] Comment Period for Stateline Development Expires Thursday

[Area Man]

If you have any public comment regarding the shopping center development
just across the state line in Whitman County, the 14-day public comment
period expires at 4 p.m. Thursday. Public comments can be submitted in
person to the Whitman County Planning Department, Att: Mark Bordsen, at
the Public Service Building, 310 N. Main St., Colfax, or by mail to P.O.
Box 430, Colfax, WA 99111. Written comments must be signed. Comments
will not be accepted by e-mail.
 
Once the comment period expires, Whitman County Planning Director Mark
Bordsen will evaluate the comments and issue a final determination on
the environmental checklist. Members of the public then will have 10
days to appeal the final determination. 

This was gleaned from the following article in today's (Feb 15) Daily
News:
--------------------------------------------
Cities question effect of corridor growth; Pullman, Moscow to submit
opinions on highway shopping center

By Michelle Dupler, Daily News staff writer

A proposed shopping center development in the Pullman-Moscow Highway
corridor is bringing to a head long-standing questions about the effects
of growth on water resources on the Palouse. 

The Hawkins Companies submitted an application to Whitman County in
January to build a shopping complex along the highway just west of the
Idaho state line. At 714,000 square feet, the development would be seven
times as large as the Wheatland Mall in Pullman and about twice the size
of the Palouse Mall in Moscow, Planning Director Pete Dickinson said. 

The Pullman City Council focused on the proposed development at its
Tuesday night meeting after it learned of the county's Feb. 1
preliminary approval of the developer's State Environmental Policy Act
checklist. 

The cities of Pullman and Moscow intend to submit comments about the
water source for the development and its submitted stormwater drainage
design. The cities also are concerned about how public services such as
police and fire might be affected, since they might respond outside of
their jurisdictions in emergencies. 

Neither city has any official role in the SEPA process or any power to
make a decision about the project. However, like any member of the
public, the cities can comment on the project and ask the county to
address questions about the environmental issues. 

A key question is whether the developers will draw water from the
shallow Wanapum aquifer or the deeper Grand Ronde aquifer. The developer
plans to use on-site wells as a water source, rather than extending
public utilities either from Pullman or Moscow, Whitman County Engineer
Mark Storey said in a telephone interview today. 

Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney confirmed today the developer has not
approached Moscow about providing water or sewer service. 

The water should come from the Wanapum aquifer to minimize impacts on
the two cities' water supplies, Pullman Public Works Director Mark
Workman said at Tuesday's council meeting. The city of Pullman draws its
entire water supply from the Grand Ronde aquifer. Moscow gets about 70
percent of its water from the Grand Ronde and 30 percent from the
Wanapum, Workman said. 

The Wanapum aquifer is recharged from surface water, Larry Kirkland said
in a telephone interview today. Kirkland is the technical advisor and
hydrologist for the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee, a coalition formed
to monitor water issues on the Palouse. 

The Grand Ronde gets some recharge, but the mechanism is unclear,
Kirkland said. 

There may be some misunderstanding about how the proposed shopping
center will use water, Storey said. 

"Part of the issue is people assuming the applicant is looking for a new
water right," Storey said. "New water rights have not been released in
Whitman County in years and years." 

The Hawkins Companies plans to transfer an existing water right to the
shopping center, Storey said. But they have not said which aquifer that
water right might come from. If they transfer a water right from the
Wanapum aquifer, that water right would continue to be pumped from the
Wanapum. The same is true for a water right from the Grand Ronde, Storey
said. 

The developer could not be reached for comment. 

Workman also raised questions about the developer's design for
stormwater drainage, suggesting the swales outlined in the environmental
checklist will be ineffective because water does not percolate down
through the soils on the Palouse. Instead, water sits in the ground or
runs off into streams. That would be Paradise Creek in the case of this
development. 

The county is addressing stormwater drainage with the Hawkins Companies,
asking it to submit a design in line with the standards contained in the
Eastern Washington Storm Water Manual. This manual, recently published
by the Washington State Department of Ecology, demands a stricter
standard, Storey said. 

Also, the developer will incorporate detention ponds into its stormwater
system, allowing water to slowly be released into the natural drainage. 
Storey plans to consult with Workman about the developer's stormwater
design as the project moves forward. "We want to make this match what
the city of Pullman is doing as closely as possible," he said. 

A 14-day public comment period expires at 4 p.m. Thursday. Public
comments can be submitted in person to the Whitman County Planning
Department, Att: Mark Bordsen, at the Public Service Building, 310 N.
Main St., Colfax, or by mail to P.O. Box 430, Colfax, WA 99111. Written
comments must be signed. Comments will not be accepted by e-mail. 

Once the comment period expires, Whitman County Planning Director Mark
Bordsen will evaluate the comments and issue a final determination on
the environmental checklist. Members of the public then will have 10
days to appeal the final determination. 

The council also: 
- elected Councilman Bill Paul as Mayor Pro Tempore and Councilman
Francis Benjamin as alternate Mayor Pro Tempore; 
- adopted a resolution declaring the city's intent to limit traffic on
Pine Street between East Main Street and Northeast Olsen Street to make
way for the Pine Street Mall as part of the Downtown Riverwalk project; 
- accepted a donation of about $4,000 from Verizon Northwest to fund
public access to the Internet at the Neill Public Library.