Hughes Announces County Support of Prune Alley Project

— by Margie Doyle —

Prune Alley, ready for curbs, gutters and sidewalks

Councilman Rick Hughes announced at the Eastsound Planning Review Committee regular meeting on Thursday, Nov. 5 that the County Council has approved additional funding from the County Roads Fund in order to complete the Prune Alley Project on a three-year time schedule.

The improvements to Prune Alley which runs parallel to North Beach Road between Main Street and School Road include:

• expanding sidewalks, curbs and parking onto Prune Alley and the cross streets that connect Prune Alley
• incorporating radius curbs (designed like those found at the intersection of “A” Street and North Beach Road)
• providing disability access, mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

According to County Manager Thomas and Auditor Milene Henley, “the County’s largest department, Public Works, is in stable financial condition. It benefits from the road fund property tax and receives significant grant funding.”

In an hour-long presentation to the County’s advisory EPRC, Public Works Director Brian Vincent distributed a 2015-2018 timeline for Planning, Engineering, Right of Way and Construction, based on the concepts brought forward by Fred Klein of the EPRC and Bill Trogdon of the Eastsound Design Review Committee, beginning four years ago. At that time, Klein obtained plans made by Greg Bronn in 2005, and the committee reviewed them to firm up suggestions.

Vincent said funding of the “lion’s share” of the projected cost — $2,210,000 — comes from the County Public Works road fund, which Vincent and Hughes explained is “healthy enough for this project.”  A breakdown of the costs is described by County Planner Colin Huntemer as follows:

• Engineering: $310,000
• Right of Way: $200,000
• Construction: $1,700,000

Huntemer adds, “This is of course a planning estimate as the exact nature and scope of improvements is not yet known. I did assume however that we would be constructing it in one season.”

For further information about the project, go to Council/docs/Resolutions/2015/Resolutionr-Transportation-Improvement-Program-2016-2021.pdf

The project is timed to coordinate with the stormwater improvements on Prune Alley, which are funded by a $243,000 grant this year from the State Department of Ecology.

Vincent described the schedule as being “quite lengthy,” due in part to the fact that there are no roadwork periods scheduled during the summer tourist season, from Memorial Day to Labor Day; during that time only underground work will be done. He said, “We want to be realistic and recognize needs of community to have Prune Alley open in the summer.”

Curbs and sidewalks will protect pedestrians along Prune Alley with the three-year improvement project

Vincent and members of the advisory committee discussed the research and acquisition of rights-of-way needed for the project, which will install angled parking along Prune Alley.  It is expected that an project engineer will be hired Jan-Feb 2016, with the Request for Proposals (RFP)  going out in the next few weeks. “We’ll farm out most of the design,” Vincent said.

Rick Hughes said that there is a large reserve for the roads’ fund balance, and “This has been a well thought-out, well budgeted road project.” He added  that the Council decision to fund the project out of the county roads fund was part of the County capital budget formulation earlier this week.

Fred Klein said, “I’m delighted to see the project spelled out month by month to completion,” and offered his own assistance, particularly in discussions with property owners.

Planner Colin Huntemer, said that it would be helpful if the EPRC can review the current  development standards “to see if they are consistent with what you want Eastsound to look like. It would be of great benefit to this project in particular. There’s  an artistic component that I have no part in. The compliance issues, such as ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act ]compliance, I do.”

The Prune Alley draft plan formulated by Fred Klein and Bill Trogdon

Klein asked about angled parking the inclusion of radius curbs for ADA compliance, and Bob Maynard brought up curb heights and Huntemer replied, “I will send what the [current standards] are and identify my understanding of what is represented here. I’d be happy to research for you if you feel there are areas [in the development standards] that are not well addressed,

“I will fully go to bat for what this community wants …. this is an aggressive schedule, please send me questions,” Huntemer said. He recommended that EPRC Chair Greg Ayers be his point of contact on the matter.