Residents ask county to keep Seltice cutoff

Several residents from around Seltice voiced their objections to a Whitman County proposal to abandon the 450-foot Seltice Road, saying it is a regularly-used bypass for traffic in the neighborhood.

“I was really kind of insulted by you calling it useless. I use it every day,” said David Gumm.

County commissioners conducted a hearing on abandoning the short road during their regular meeting Monday morning.

Seltice Road provides a cut-off between the Warner Road and the Tekoa-Farmington Road. The short cutoff road also includes a concrete bridge dating back to the 1930s.

Public Works Director Mark Storey said abandoning the road would save the county about a half-million dollar replacement job when the bridge has to be replaced.

Storey said the road is not critical to the county system because traffic can access the Farmington Road by traveling to the end of the Warner Road which intersects with the Tekoa-Farmington road about a half mile north of the Seltice road intersection.

Mark Hellinger, owner of Cedar Creek Ag, told commissioners the extra 4,000-feet required to use the Warner Road route to the intersection would put 800 to 1,500 more miles on his trucks each year.

Hellinger submitted to commissioners a petition signed by several residents requesting the cutoff road be kept public.

Jim Thompson, the “self-proclaimed Mayor of Seltice,” told commissioners the Seltice Road provides him a smoother access between his home and farm ground.

Storey asked residents if they would be amenable to having heavy loads limited from crossing the bridge. They were. Commissioners will hold another hearing on the road abandonment Dec. 3.

Residents of the area pointed out the Seltice cutoff and Warner Road provide a cross link to Highway 27 south of Oakesdale and then Highway 271 north of Oakesdale to Highway 195 and north to Spokane.

Residents noted scratching Seltice Road was suggested years ago after the county paved Warner Road. The steep drop on the cutoff road led to concern about keeping gravel on the surface. County crews resolved the problem by also paving the cutoff road.

Commissioner Greg Partch pointed out county public works officials eye roads for abandonment throughout the year. Doing so, he said, gets the properties back on the tax roll and minimizes the county’s expenses for maintenance like plowing and grading.

They are also considering the abandonment of the 1.94-mile dirt Wagner Road in northwest Whitman County and of several pieces of right-of-way bought for the 2009 rebuild of Almota Road.

Wagner Road is a road that connects Davis and Bowen roads west of Ewan. The road runs parallel to the John Wayne Trail.

Nobody testified about those roads.