Valley Springs residents want private road

Alan Harbine and his Northwood neighbors hired a traffic engineer to forge a truce with the developer of a pending mega subdivision, which they opposed.

Residents of the cul-de-sac community feared the new, 369-home development would bisect their neighborhood with a through street from north Spokane to Spokane Valley. They got the road changed, but because they didn’t check with the county, it appears the road to Hillyard will go through, albeit paved with good intentions.

“We just don’t want a thoroughfare passing straight through our neighborhood,” Harbine said.

What the neighbors did, working with developer Brian Walker, is add a few crazy-straw twists to the proposed street linking Valley Springs Road to Columbia Drive. Neighbors hoped the added turns would make the street seem like a waste of time for commuters looking for a shortcut. Walker also agreed to request that the roads through Valley Springs be private.

Residents expected better reception for their proposal from county officials because the neighborhood took the initiative to work with the developer, something rarely done. There’s usually bad blood between developers and neighbors surrounding a proposed subdivision.

But county engineers are balking at the suggestion that the road linking Columbia and Valley Springs be private. If the road connects two public streets, then it should be a public road, said Scott Englehard, Spokane County engineer.

“Unfortunately, the only people not invited to the party was the county,” Englehard said. “We could have educated everyone, from our standpoint.”

Private roads are typically not built to public road standards, Englehard said, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be maintained like public roads, meaning they may be impassable for commuters trying to get from one county road to another. Generally if a road connects two public roads, then it cannot be private.

But the neighbors aren’t the only ones saying they’re not ready to connect two communities. The city of Spokane is objecting to punching Columbia Drive through because it doesn’t think Valley Springs Road can handle the traffic. The city doesn’t have the money needed to make its portion of Valley Springs Road fit for steady traffic.

“It isn’t planned to be upgraded at this point … and we’re concerned that it’s on a really steep hill,” said Marlene Feist, city spokeswoman. “When our plows go up there, they go up backwards because it’s too slick to go up. Is that a safe outlet?”

Valley Springs Road turns into Wellesley Avenue as it leaves the south slope of Baldy Mountain and heads into Hillyard. Both are narrow roads with chewed up pavement. Wellesley funnels into a narrow railroad underpass before emerging in Hillyard proper.

However, it’s likely only a small percentage of the people living in Valley Springs subdivision will drive toward Hillyard, Englehard said. Bigelow Gulch Road is about to undergo a major expansion. Thierman Road, which Valley Springs residents could take to Bigelow Gulch Road, would likely be the path most traveled to the west once the roadwork is done, Englehard said.

One more twist though, Valley Springs is in the Spokane Public School District, despite being closer to schools in Spokane Valley. Children there will have to be bused to Spokane for school.