Pendleton residents voice opposition to city plan to widen street

Mayor John Turner explained the council does not make formal decisions at workshops but would hear “the potential good from widening Despain versus the concerns of neighbors.”

“The city has given us no compelling argument why widening is necessary,” neighborhood resident Andrew Picken told the city council and staff.

City explains two options

Public Works Director Bob Patterson presented staff options and recommendations for the project. He said Northwest Despain is classified as a collector and bike route and has a 78-foot right of way from North Main to Northwest Fourth Street, and a 70-foot right of way from Northwest Fourth Street to Northwest 14th Street. The street is 30 feet wide curb to curb with two travel lanes that are 11 feet wide and one 8-foot-wide parking lane.

“Per our standard for 70-foot right-of-way, it would have no on-street parking, two travel lanes, one center turn lane and two bike lanes,” Patterson said, “for a 48-foot curb-to-curb width. This would apply with new development and construction.”

Northwest Despain functions as a neighborhood major residential street, Patterson said, and as such needs to be wider. Two configurations would satisfy the standard.

One option is a street 32 feet wide with two 12-foot-wide travel lanes and one 8-foot-wide parking lane if additional off-street parking is in steep terrain, and the other is 36 feet curb to curb with two travel lanes of 10 feet each and two parking lanes of 8 feet each without additional off-street parking and is in not steep terrain.

Patterson said engineering estimates would cost the project an extra $10,000 for the 2-foot wider option and $30,000 for expanding 6 feet.

The 32-foot curb to curb option would allow wider travel lanes, adding to drivers’ comfort for higher speeds, he said. Widening to 36 feet would provide narrower travel lanes with an extra parking lane, diminishing drivers’ comfort for higher speeds.

Communication breakdown

Neighborhood residents said they felt the city had not adequately notified them of its plans. Michael Collins told the council the first he learned of the city’s plan to widen the street was when the utility poles were moved.

But Patterson said Pendleton Public Works sent a five-paragraph letter in August 2022 to residents liable to be affected by planned sewer main line replacement and street reconstruction on Northwest Despain Avenue.

“You are being notified because your property is adjacent to the work area and may be impacted during the sewer replacement and street reconstruction,” according to the letter. “The ... project consists of reconstructing and widening the street and will include rebuilding the roadway, installing new curbs and gutters, some sidewalk replacement and installation of (Americans with Disabilities Act) ramps. Several utilities will have to be moved in the right-of-way as part of the road widening as well.”

Mike and Shannon Cimmiyotti Collins said they don’t remember receiving the letter.

“If we did, we must have missed the word ‘widening,’” he said. “I had been assured by Patterson quite some time before the letter came out, when I called him about the markings they made on my lawn the first time that they were not part of a plan to widen the street, but they had to mark everything because the road was going to be resurfaced.”

The city had to mark everything again recently, because the first markings had faded over time, Collins said.

“I can assure you that nobody from the city ever talked to us about a plan to widen the street,” he said. “In fact, except for my call to Patterson, nobody talked to us about this at all.”

Picken contended there has been a lack of communication.

“If you wanted a letter to go unnoticed, you’d send it out in August,” he said. “Notification was inadequate. The arts center and Buckin’ Bean don’t support it. We found about tearing up Despain from Main Street to 10th from construction workers telling a neighbor.”

Other objections

Winston Hill, co-proprietor with his wife, Kirbie Hill, of Buckin’ Bean Coffee Roasters, 405 N.W. Despain Ave. said his business didn’t need more parking on its side of the street, and traffic was lighter than 30 years ago.

“Having cars parked in front of us would be more dangerous, not less,” he said. “Where’s the need? Pendleton High School has about half its 1992 enrollment.”

Neighborhood resident Dean Fouquette emphasized safety for children and for adults crossing streets while looking at their cellphones.

“Kids used to walk to neighborhood schools,” he said. “Now they walk to bus stops on Despain.”

Instead of spending money to widen the street, Fouquette urged flashing stop signs when children were present and other safety features. He said he staked out two stop signs for about 15 minutes each. At one sign, he told the council, a single driver came to a complete stop out of 15 at one sign and 17 at the other.

“One even did a U-turn,” he said. “Distracted driving was common. Widening will mean more speeders, not fewer. Even with bulb outs, crossing will be more dangerous. No one did as I was taught in Don Requa’s driver’s ed class in the 1960s: Look both ways twice.”

Resident Jay Bonzani emphasized child safety.

“We’ve raised 10 kids on Despain,” he said. “Seven are still at home. The city isn’t taking the value of lost landscaping into account. We have a 70 year-old maple tree. Widen the street and its roots are gone. Solutions come from talking to people.”

Patterson said speeds of 10 to 25 mph were posted in residential zones, but 30 to 35 mph were allowed on a collector, eliciting gasps from the audience. Bulb outs — the sidewalk bulges such as those the Oregon Department of Transportation put in downtown — can make crossing streets safer for pedestrians.

“Bulb outs do slow people down,” Patterson said. “But we can’t control drivers’ mind sets. The worst offenders are local.”

He also said speed bumps would never happen but raised platforms might be an option.

Another possibility

Ward 2 City Councilor Sally Brandsen suggested consideration of a third option. She proposed continuing with sewer and storm drain main line replacements, rebuilding the road, installing new curbs, gutters and ADA ramps, plus some sidewalk improvement, but all within the present 30-foot width.

Ward 1 City Councilor Carole Innes said some of her constituents supported widening the avenue, although none came to the workshop.

The mayor and council scheduled another public hearing and a possible vote on widening Northwest Despain Avenue for their meeting March 21.