The South Shore Road Advisory Committee (SSRAC) met Wednesday at the Church from 4:30–5:50. Attending were Win Anderson, Anne Casperson, Darcy Daniells, Paula Dekker, Roz Glasser, Tony Maggi, David McKibben, Carl Meinzinger, Jim Nichol, Bruce Rooney, Connie Snell, Sally Smith, Edith Walden, Dennis Wyatt, and Given Kutz, Traffic Engineering Technician from Skagit County Public Works. Absent were Marc Caputo, Susan Ferrell, and Jon Prescott. Susie Fox and Harold Scott attended as visitors.

Jim Nichol led the meeting. The minutes were adopted with a note correcting the spelling and title of Given Kutz.

Given Kutz represented Public Works in the absence of Forrest Jones, who is dealing with a family illness, and Torey Nelson, who is on vacation. The committee extended its sympathies and best wishes to Forrest.

Given presented clear and straightforward answers to questions and clarified the role of the committee. He explained that County taxes are used exclusively for road maintenance, repair, and safety issues. Allocations are prioritized by number of vehicles and number of collisions on a road. Unfortunately, the potential of a road falling into the water does not qualify for county funds. Any new construction must be paid by state or federal funds, generally through grants. In order to begin the search for grant money, the County must have an approved plan. It is the committee’s mission to provide recommendations for such a plan. The sooner the plan exists, the sooner funding can be sought. Roz Glasser volunteered to discuss grant possibilities with Given.

Given encouraged the committee to think outside of the box and not get bogged down in the technical details that are the county’s responsibility to solve, such as determining existing right-of-ways or funding, or negotiating with individual property owners. The committee’s job is to make a general recommendation about the future alignment of the road. “Keep it simple,” was his advice.

Given stated that Public Works considers its role as stewards of the roadway and stewards of safety. He explained that the Geotechnical tests were performed in the Fall of 2007, with the report completed in February of 2008. By last Fall, further serious and unexpected sloughing had occurred along South Shore Road. The County believes that vehicular traffic on the south lane will hasten erosion on the bank. For reasons of safety and liability, and prevention of further deterioration, the County initiated the current one-lane, one-way traffic plan for South Shore Road. Acknowledging the hardships the plan inflicts, he stated that the County is comfortable with this decision and indicated that returning to two-way traffic in any configuration was not an option.

Skagit County has made it a policy not to install speed bumps on County roads. Given explained that it is impossible to design a speed bump that has the same effect on all vehicles—what works for a 1968 Oldsmobile will not work for an electric vehicle. In addition, speed bumps do not consistently decrease speeding—drivers may increase speed to diminish the effects of a bump or increase their speed between bumps to make up time. Speed bumps increase noise and pollution and are hazardous to cyclists and may slow emergency response times.

A discussion of other ways to encourage speed-limit compliance followed, including using more bollards to narrow the south lane. Having a radar tracker costs $10,000 and permanent installations are reserved for sites close to schools. The use of chicanes (an artificial feature creating extra turns in a roadway, according to Wikipedia) was discussed, accompanied by the question, “Do we want Guemes Island to look like Seattle?” Given believes that peer pressure is the most effective method of enforcement, although not always successful in an eclectic community like ours. The County Sheriff advises citizens not to confront violators directly.

Whether road construction could compromise the bank depends on location. Moving the road north by one lane (10-12 feet) would differ from moving the road further inland. While Public Works does not know for sure, Given stated that they aren’t too worried about it except for places of extreme erosion.

Public Works has 53 pages of deeds and documentation to determine where existing right-of-ways are and can determine that with their own unlicensed surveys. They will not hire a licensed surveyor due to the extreme cost. The County does not have money to purchase property for right-of-ways. Only if federal funds are used would property owners be reimbursed at fair market value. The County will need to depend on donations, land swaps, and in case of last resort, eminent domain (the taking of property). Property taxes can be reduced only for the amount of land taken.

Chris Seidel, District 1 Road Manager, and his crew have been on the Island Tuesday and Wednesday to do maintenance on existing ditches. In researching identified drainage problems, Given discovered there is no drainage plan for Guemes Island. Mike Farthing, Drainage Project Manager from the Skagit County Engineering Department, will come to the Island with Torey Nelson from Public Works to assess problems and begin developing a plan. Dennis Wyatt and Bruce Rooney volunteered to identify drainage issues, including discharges that contribute to erosion. In addition, cost estimates for raising Edens Road where it floods are being gathered. It is not possible to solve the flooding issues through drainage, so the road will probably need to be raised. A question about whether ditches along South Shore Road could be lined with impervious material, diverting all water directly to the nearest culvert will be researched.

Better marking of danger spots on the road was discussed and Given agreed that more needed to be done, having witnessed a dangerous pedestrian maneuver.

Due to budget restraints for overtime, Given stated that Public Works will only be able to attend committee meetings once a month. He announced that the new Interim Director of Public Works is Dave Sheridan, who has 30 years experience in the department and has served as Interim Director previously.

The agenda for next week will be to focus on short-term and/or intermediate solutions and proposals.

The meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by Edith Walden