June 19, 2009

City hears west-end plan
Business owners say changes would hurt

By Rodger Nichols
of The Chronicle

     Members of The Dalles Planning Commission and The Dalles City Council had their first formal look Thursday at the Chenoweth Interchange Area Management Plan (IAMP), which would ultimately require massive changes in traffic patterns on the west side of The Dalles.
     That plan is the result of a deal struck with the Oregon Department of Transportation in 2006. That’s when the city approved a zone change from industrial to light industrial/commercial for a parcel of land on the river side of Interstate 84 near the Chenoweth interchange. ODOT filed an appeal to the zone change, saying commercial development in the area would generate much more traffic than industrial development, and would likely swamp the capacity of the Chenoweth interchange
     In order to get ODOT to withdraw its appeal, the city agreed to work with ODOT in developing an IAMP. That plan is intended to modify traffic patterns in the area by adding new streets, installing traffic signals and/or roundabouts at key intersections, blocking left turns on a portion of West Sixth Street and devising a new route to get cars past the Union Pacific Railroad tracks without needing to stop for trains.
     The plan was originally presented in a public meeting June 11. Here are the new bits of information that emerged Thursday:
     • Phase 4 has been added for very long-range development. It would expand the current Chenoweth interchange by widening the overpass to six lanes, with turn lanes in each direction in the center. Combined with changes in the other three phases, it would allow the intersection to handle traffic generated by up to 4.2 million square feet of industrial development and 675,000 square feet of commercial development in the area between the freeway and the Columbia River on the Westside.
     • The plan will involve Wasco County as well, since some of the land in the affected area is in its jurisdiction.
     • Current traffic on West Sixth Street is 450 vehicles an hour, or one every eight seconds.
     If property in the area is fully built out, planners estimate traffic would rise to 1,800 vehicles per hour or one every two seconds. That’s why Kittelson proposes a median on a portion of the street — to prevent lefthand turns that would back up traffic
     The agreement to create such a plan took place before developers pitched the use of the zone-changed parcel to Wal-Mart. Though triggered by the zone change, the plan will be implemented whether Wal-Mart is approved or not.
     The whole purpose of the plan is to protect the taxpayer’s investment in the carrying capacity of the intersection.
     Since that time, ODOT hired a Portland transportation engineering company, Kittelson & Associates, to develop a draft plan.
     A public planning meeting was held March 1, and the first rollout of the plan was at a public meeting June 11.
     Though not required to hold public comment on the presentation Thursday, the council and planning commission did allow members of the sparse audience to do so.
     Jim Shaver of Northwest Aluminum Specialties asked if current businesses within the affected zone would be assessed for these developments. “No,” came the answer. It would be done through system development charges, which only apply to new construction or redevelopment of existing property.
     Doug Hattenhauer of Hattenhauer Distributing said that roundabouts and a median strip on West Sixth would cut business in half for his Union 76 station.      He suggested traffic lights instead of roundabouts, and asked for a few key left-turn breaks in the median.
     Shirley Hovda owns a building that she leases to Fix Auto (formerly Sky’s Collision). One of the planned modifications in Phase 3 would cut off access to her property. She asked that an alternative be considered, and asked councilors and commissioners to consider the fate of Fix Auto’s 12 employees and their families,
     What’s next?
     Kittelson will work with the city, county and ODOT to develop a draft implementation and financing plan and language for the necessary ordinances to implement it.
     They tentatively plan to present that draft plan to the city planning commission Sept. 14 and to the city council Sept. 28.
     “If we want to achieve maximum capacity, we have to build the infrastructure,” said city planning director Dan Durow.