Pullman subdivision plan includes road extension near Kamiak Elementary site

The stipulation for the Pullman School District to construct a secondary access road to the new Kamiak Elementary School prior to opening may have been solved last week. Several Pullman residents in January voiced concerns over the district's construction plans not including a secondary access road, and Pullman's Board of Adjustment ultimately approved the district's conditional use permit, with one of the conditions stating that the district construct a gravel road as a secondary access if there was not another access road already in place by the time of occupation.

Last week, Pullman's planning commission recommended approval of the latest subdivision plan for Military Hill. The subdivision, if approved by the city council, includes plans for a permanent road extending from Canyon View Drive to Terre View Drive. Canyon View was one of the options for a secondary access road to Kamiak Elementary.

“It helps further that issue,” Pullman Planning Director Pete Dickinson said. “It will extend off of Terre View Drive and create that second access with a residential street.”

The Paradise Hills Subdivision Number Eight plans include 75 residential lots on 43.2 acres. Of that acreage, there is a 12-acre parcel mapped out where the school will be constructed.

Dickinson told the Gazette the city council still has to approve the subdivision, and the plans are expected to go before the city council on March 14. He said if the subdivision is approved, it will likely be developed in phases.

“They'll build as they go,” he said. “It will go as fast as the lots sell.”

If approved, the developer would have five years from the time of approval to finish the final platting. If not finished within five years, another application would have to be submitted to the city.

Dickinson estimated there would be 10 to 15 lots on average developed at a time.

“It will be a series of final plats,” he said.

Dickinson also noted at the planning commission meeting last week some residents raised concerns over stormwater runoff with the subdivision plans.

“There was discussion on how that would affect the development of downstream properties,” he said. “The residents were wanting to make sure that the post runoff is the same as the pre-runoff.”

The subdivision plans include a condition for a 25-year storm event, he noted. This means that there will be a stormwater detention pond to help control the level of runoff.

“The premise is that there is going to be an increase in runoff,” he said. “The stormwater detention pond releases it at the pre-development rate to control discharge rates.”

Depending on how long construction in the subdivision takes, the road extension could take up to five years, Dickinson said. If the road extension has not been completed by the time Kamiak Elementary is ready for occupation, the district will still be required to meet the Board of Adjustment's condition to construct a gravel road as a secondary access. The estimated cost of the gravel road is ticketed at approximately $30,000. Current plans have the school opening in time for the 2018-19 school year, but Superintendent Bob Maxwell indicated recently that the opening could still be about two years out because of weather delays from this winter.