The future of a 10.5-mile stretch of former railroad right of way through Spokane Valley is continuing to be debated four months after Spokane County voters rejected further studies of a light-rail system long proposed for development on that land.


The county, which owns most of the right of way, still considers the long, narrow strip of property crucial to meeting long-term transportation and sewer-system needs. For now, though, its trying to resolve a dispute with the city of Spokane Valley over part of that right of way, which is located mostly within that citys boundaries. It has offered a compromise under which it would retain ownership of some of the land the city covets, protecting it for future county-related uses, but that also would turn over part of it to the city to use for a desired street extension.


Spokane Valley has issued a counterproposal under which it still would take over complete ownership of the stretch of right of way within its borders, but would dedicate part of that right of way for future mass transit needs.


Those proposals were exchanged by letter long after Spokane Valley filed litigation with Spokane County Superior Court in December, asking the court to grant the city ownership of the right of way from University Road to its eastern boundary, at Hodges Road. A pre-trial date of May 25 has been set to hear the matter, and a trial date has been set for June 4, says a spokesman from the Spokane County Clerks office.


Susan Meyer, CEO of the Spokane Transit Authority (STA), says there currently are no plans for any form of mass transit other than light rail to run through that corridor. Yet, the previously discarded option of running a bus rapid transit line through the corridor will be reconsidered at next months STA board of directors meeting, she says.


The STA board voted in January to discontinue preliminary engineering work on the envisioned light-rail system, per county voters wishes, yet left open the possibility of such a system being developed someday by setting aside $5 million for possible additional right of way acquisition. The purpose of that acquisition would be to expand the entire right of way, which becomes as narrow as 55 feet in some areas, to the 100-foot width that STA considers necessary to accommodate Spokane Valleys road needs plus a future mass-transit corridor.


County Commissioner Todd Mielke estimates that buying the remaining needed right of way would cost the STA, or other agencies as well, up to $12 million in todays dollars, and obviously more than that if more time passes until the land is bought.


In last Novembers election, voters rejected two advisory light-rail propositions. One asked whether STA should conduct a study on how to pay for the $263 million project, and the other asked if STA should use its existing resources to pay for preliminary engineering and design for the light-rail line.


Shortly thereafter, the city of Spokane Valley filed its lawsuit against the county asking Spokane County Superior Court to grant it ownership of a 5.5 mile piece of the right of way from University Road to its eastern city limits. The city already owns a mile of that right of way, between Dishman-Mica and University roads, which the county deeded to the city when Spokane Valley incorporated in 2003. Mielke says that transfer of ownership was mandated by state law because there was an existing roadway there.


Overall, the Milwaukee Road right of way that was to be the backbone of the light-rail system is an 11.5 mile piece of land that extends east from near the intersection of Dishman-Mica and Sprague Avenue, in Spokane Valley, to 1.25 miles west of the Idaho state line.


The entire 15.5-mile route that was proposed for light rail, and that still could be considered as a future mass-transit corridor, stretches from near the STA bus depot, at 701 W. Riverside in downtown Spokane, into Liberty Lake.


Playing into the jurisdictional conflict is the countys main sewer line, which is buried beneath much of the right of way and serves two-thirds of the entire valley population. Bruce Rawls, the countys utilities director, says that to access the large sewer main, the county needs a 30-foot wide piece of right of way there thats unencumbered by buildings or permanent light-rail lines.


Mielke says the sewer main is the countys primary interest in the corridor for now. That sewer main would become the biggest pathway for waste water transmitted to a $106 million waste-water treatment plant the county is in the process of developing.


Spokane Valley


Spokane Valleys immediate interest in the right of way involves its desire to extend Appleway Boulevard, a key arterial, two miles between University and Evergreen roads. In its Superior Court suit, though, its asking to be granted ownership of all of the right of way from University to the citys eastern boundary, at Hodges Road, which would amount to another 3.5 miles.


Mielke says, They (Spokane Valley) want us to give them road right of way at no cost, which he opposes. He says the countys proposal would give Spokane Valley ownership of the right of way it needs to extend Appleway to Evergreen. In exchange, the county wants Spokane Valley to give it ownership of a smaller chunk of right of way it owns between Dishman-Mica and University that the county wants for future mass transit uses.


Meanwhile, Spokane Valleyabout four years old and already one of the 10 largest cities in the statesees the extension of Appleway Boulevard east of University as its No. 1 priority.


Spokane Valley City Councilman Dick Denenny says, Nothing can happen unless we extend Appleway from University to Evergreen. He says a $400,000 study found that extending Appleway to Evergreen not only would alleviate future transportation problems there, but would pave the way for development of a proposed 20-acre mixed-use City Hall complex just east of where Appleway curls back to Sprague, at University.


Jerry Lenzi, regional director of the Washington state Department of Transportation, says the states Transportation Improvement Board is holding more than $4.2 million for Spokane Valley to tap to extend Appleway from University to Evergreen, but cant release that money until the city meets criteria for award of those funds. He says those criteria include developing a plan for the project, completing required environmental documents, and getting the project listed in the federal Metropolitan Transportation Plan, which includes urban areas of more than 200,000 population.


In its suit against the county, Spokane Valley says that receipt of those funds also depends on it gaining ownership of the property where the Appleway extension would be built.


The countys proposed compromise solution involves offering the city ownership of the 72 feet of right of way the city needs to expand Appleway between University and Evergreen. In return, the county would retain its sewer rights there, retain ownership of the rest of the right of way, and gain ownership of 28 feet of city-owned right of way between Dishman-Mica and University. The countys proposal also suggests that the two entities agree to continue negotiations with regard to the remainder of the property east of Evergreen.


Because some stretches of the right of way within Spokane Valley, mostly east of Evergreen, are as narrow as 55 feet, more right of way would need to be purchased to meet both Spokane Valleys needed 72 feet for a road and an additional 28 feet for a mass-transit corridor, says Meyer, STAs chief executive.


Mielke says hed prefer to see a 28-foot wide strip of mass-transit right of way under one ownership throughout the entire 15.5-mile corridor, but Meyer disagrees.


She says the key is to acquire and maintain the necessary 28 feet of mass-transit right of way and keep it under public ownership for future development. She says she isnt concerned that the cities of Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Liberty Lake, as well as Spokane County, currently control stretches of that corridor.


Because of Spokane Valleys pending litigation against the county, city officials are reluctant to talk about the right of way. Denenny says, though, that Appleway, when built east of University, could become a two-way street and not necessarily an extension of the Sprague-Appleway couplet that exists now between where Interstate 90 crosses over Sprague and University. Spokane Valley, as part of its $400,000 study, is taking steps that could lead to converting both legs of that 2.5-mile couplet back to two-way traffic.


Glenn Miles, transportation manager of the Spokane Regional Transportation Council, says Spokane County is bound by its countywide planning policies to preserve the old railroad right of way as a corridor for future transportation uses.


The county acquired the right of way in 1980 for $3.25 million. The property had been owned by the Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co., of Chicago, also called the Milwaukee Road, until that company fell into receivership. The property became known simply as the Milwaukee Road right of way.


Both Spokane County and Spokane Valley, in the formers proposed compromise solution and in Spokane Valleys written response to that letter, stated their intentions are to see 28 feet of right of way preserved for future mass-transit uses.


Meyer, of the STA, says that Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, along with about 30 private landowners, own land adjacent to the right of way thats less than 100 feet wide, mostly east of Evergreen. She says STA soon will hire an acquisition specialist to develop an acquisition strategy to buy land to expand the entire corridor to a width of 100 feet.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.