[Vision2020] Comment Period for Stateline Development Expires Thursday

[bill bonte]

My question is:  What about the sewer?

The nearest Washington treatment plant is in Pullman.  The Moscow  
plant is already at or near capacity.  Moscow ratepayers are still  
paying for the last upgrade.  Surely the Hawkins Group is not  
planning to connect across the state line.  Is this possible, legal?

Bill Bonte
On Feb 15, 2006, at 2:56 PM, Area Man wrote:

> 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.
>
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