Yelm Public Safety Building & City Council Chambers

“The Yelm City Council approved an amended Yelm Comprehensive Plan and updated the Six Year Transportation Improvement Plan Tuesday [July 28].
Maps were updated in the comprehensive plan to reflect new growth figures adopted by Thurston County…

“Council held two public hearings on the proposed changes.
The only person from the public to speak was former Yelm mayoral candidate Steve Klein.
Klein requested that the second stage of the Yelm bypass be removed from the six-year plan because funding isn’t anticipated in the next six years.
Community Development Director Grant Beck said the entire bypass needs to be on the six-year plan to remain eligible for funding if it becomes available.
The city can only seek funding for projects on the STIP,” according to the NVN’s July 31st print edition.

AS PER USUAL, THE NVN DID NOT ACCURATELY REPORT THE TOTALITY OF WHAT I SAID, AGAIN TAKING MY REMARKS OUT OF CONTEXT!

Yelm Community Blog readers knew of my request to the Yelm Planning Commission on June 15th to accurately reflect the fact that the City of Yelm had requested the Bypass be divided into two phases, as covered here on June 16, 2009.

I asked in the Public Hearing for the city to update their STIP Map to show the Y3 (Bypass) from Mud Run Rd. to Cullens (what WSDOT now calls Stage 1) and remove the Y3 Stage 2 from the STIP, since there is no funding potential according to the Governor’s budget until the 2021-2023 biennium, at earliest.

Community Development Director Beck said to the council of my request it stays as is and not necessary to split it on the map.

The City of Yelm is seeking funding and Stage Two must be in the STIP for funding to be considered, Beck reported.
Mayor Harding added,
“Just because Stage 2 doesn’t have funding doesn’t mean funding will not be there during the 2009-2014 period”
That is TRUE.
The potential exists there could be another gas tax revenue package enacted by the State Legislature and the city does need to put their wish list out there to request funding until the package is funded.

Citry Council member Bob Isom said,
“Doesn’t the STIP have to include Stage 2 if we want funding pursued the next 6 years.”

Beck, “Yes.”

Isom, “Is there any reason to remove Stage 2.”

Beck . “No.”

While the aforementioned is all true, the following is where I differ greatly in what was told to the City Council by Mr. Beck:

1. With a request from the Mayor for Mr. Beck to address my remarks, Beck said and I quote ,
“There was a 2007 meeting with WSDOT I attended and they, not the City of Yelm suggested splitting Y3 into 2 phases. ”
That is not what WSDOT said earlier this year in a written document!
WSDOT Olympic Region Plans Engineer Dennis Engel wrote to me on January 23, 2009 and stated,
“The City of Yelm is working with the legislature about the possibility of splitting the project into stage 1 and 2, and changing some of the funding to construction so stage 1 could be built.”
Mr Engel further wrote on April 30, 2009, “The City of Yelm was very involved and worked with the legislators from their area to get the funding for construction of the first phase.”

WSDOT Olympic Region will do Stage 1 “in support of City of Yelm expectations” and at-no-time stated the two stages Bypass split was WSDOT’s idea.

2. Beck told the Council
“There was no money moved between stages.”
This is a VERY misleading comment & in particular, to a mostly unaware and uninformed City Council, who rely on Mr. Beck for all of the answers and then make their vote based solely on his report.
The fact is all of the “pre-staged” project money goes to Stage 1 (the 1.1 mile section from Mud Run Rd. to Cullens, sometimes referred tongue-in-cheek as the Yelm High School Bypass). Stage 2 gets none of that money.

3. Beck continued,
“Stage 1 construction was funded from the $11 million left over gas tax money [2005 TPA].”
Mr. Beck knows better!
Since he reads the Yelm Community Blog, he knows the $11 million Stage 1 construction funding is made up of $2.4M former engineering and $8.6M former r-o-w funds, as reported here previously, quoting the Washington State Transportation Executive Information System (TEIS).
However, WSDOT’s distribution is slightly different with the $11 million Stage 1 construction funding made up of $1.3M former engineering and $9.7M former r-o-w (right-of-way) funds, according to an internal WSDOT source. These figures were accurate as of July, 2009.

4. Beck stated,
“The r-o-w & engineering funding is in place for Stage 2.”
Not true.
The r-o-w acquisition for Stage 2 is largely complete from “pre-staged” activity, due to favorable real estate prices. Therefore, Stage 2 will have no significant r-o-w requirements.
As mentioned previously, engineering funding to continue engineering Stage 2 was diverted to Stage 1 construction. That uses up all of the money. There is no funding in place for Stage 2. There are only unfunded cost estimates in place to finish Stage 2, according to an internal WSDOT source, and
– represent the plan to break Yelm Loop into stages (still in
progress), and
– were accurate as of late July 2009.
These are:

Engineering $7.7 million unfunded estimate
Right-of-Way $4 thousand unfunded estimate
Construction $68.2 million unfunded estimate

I STILL MAINTAIN THE Y-3 SHOULD BE SPLIT ON THE STIP AND MAPS TO SHOW BOTH STAGE 1 AND STAGE 2.
OF COURSE, ONCE CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON STAGE 1 SLATED IN 2010, THE MAPS & STIP MUST BE UPDATED TO REFLECT STAGE 1 IN-PROCESS ANYWAY!

MR. BECK’S CONTINUED DECEPTION & LACK OF ATTENTION TO DETAILS IN HIS ANSWERS TO CITIZENS, THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL ABOUT IMPORTANT BUSINESS OF THIS CITY ON EVERYTHING FROM TRAFFIC, TO WATER, TO DEVELOPMENTS & A WHOLE HOST OF ISSUES IS STARTLING!
Click Here to see & hear Mr. Beck’s recorded remarks at the Yelm City Council meeting.

MUCH OF THE COSTS BORNE BY THE CITY ON LEGAL FEES LIES AT HIS FEET, IMHO !