Moscow-Pullman Corridor

[John and Michelle Murray <jmmurray@rocketmail.com>]

July 2, 1999

I have recently (today) joined the vision2020 mailing
list.  I'm joining for a specific purpose: I'm the
Assistant County Planner for Whitman County and I
want to insure that unsubstantiated rumours and
misinformation don't spread regarding the changes
that are proposed for the Moscow-Pullman Corridor. 
I'm not sure I want to respond as a representative of
the County.  However, we've received a lot of very
bad press over other issues at the County and I want
to make my work enjoyable rather than contentious. 
So, if anyone has a question regarding what's going
on with the corridor please send them my way and I'll
try to answer them.

Some Important Facts:
1. Whitman County designated the corridor an
"enterprise area" back in 1995.  This means that the
County identified it as about the only viable area to
generate badly needed tax revenue.
2.  98% of unincorporated Whitman County is
designated (zoned) agricultural, and that means no
retail, no housing developments, no industrial parks,
etc.  Until 1996, no "long plats" (divisions of land
for building more than 2 homes) were allowed.  Not
even a gas station.
3.  There currently exists no master plan for the
corridor.  Instead, the County is proposing to make
it easier for businesses to develop.  However, there
are a lot of restrictions on development, primarily a
requirement for 50% open space on the property and a
250 foot setback from the highway right-of-way.  That
means whoever wanted to build in the corridor would
have to buy twice as much land as was needed for
development and would have to provide a service road
for access.
4.  It would be virtually impossible to build next to
Paradise Creek.  It simply wouldn't pass the
environmental review.  However, no one has proposed
that that area be taken off the table.
5.  No water or sewer services currently exist in the
corridor.  If sewer services were extended from the
cities, Moscow would be a better bet to provide that
service.  Water is a bigger problem.

The politics of the situation is this:
1.  City of Pullman hates the idea of corridor
development.
2.  We don't know what City of Moscow thinks of
development.
3.  The County Commissioners are being hammered by
pro-development landowners to make the corridor even
less restrictive for development.  One commissioner
in particular is leaning towards opening the entire
county up for development.
4.  The universities want to insure that there's no
increase in traffic on highway; student commuting
time is a major concern for them.
5.  Again, there is no master plan.  One might say
there is no vision of what should happen in the
corridor.

Any questions?  burn 'em in here.
-JM
 







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