Terra Vista moratorium enacted

The Cheney City Council has imposed a six-month construction moratorium on land located east of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroad tracks — known as Terra Vista.

The moratorium prohibits the issuing of any new “Development Approvals” on the land located east of Alki Street to the city limits, north of Cheney-Plaza Road and south of Cheney-Spangle Road. Development approvals include “any license, permit, permission, subdivision or rezone required from the city for development, permission, construction or siting of buildings, structures and facilities” to be used in multi-family and general residential uses.

The land is owned by Defender Development’s Steve Emtman. Cheney’s Planning Commission recently recommended — and council approved — a “land swap” at Terra Vista requested by Emtman whereby several acres on a 12.1-acre parcel was changed from R-3/multifamily residential to R-3H /high-density multifamily and vice versa.

Emtman requested the swap in order to construct a 224-unit apartment complex along Alki Street. City officials said the area already has 258 existing units, and as part of public testimony before the commission, the project engineer — Todd Whipple of Whipple Engineering — said the amount of remaining R-3 land on that side of the railroad tracks could lead to another 3,000 people living in Cheney if developed fully.

At the City Council’s Dec. 11 meeting, Public Works Director Todd Ableman said concerns over traffic flow, access and that the current build out was at a higher density than originally proposed were factors leading to the moratorium. By imposing the measure — which runs from Dec. 11 to June 10 and can be extended another six months — the city was essentially seeking a “time out” in development while it gathers more information and comes up with a work plan for that area of Cheney.

Ableman said the area experiences a high volume of rail traffic, higher than when annexed into the city in 2003 and initially approved for development in 2006. In an April 2007 Cheney Free Press story, then Community Development Director Tom Richardson told the Planning Commission that the BNSF line averaged 5-10 trains a day, with the UP line averaging 2-3.

In a Dec. 14 email, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the railroad averages 35-40 daily trips through Cheney, along with two Amtrak trips. UP officials did not provide any specific data on their number of daily trips.

Both Cheney public safety chiefs spoke in support of the moratorium. Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said he expected rail traffic to only increase, noting that one of the reasons Amazon has given for building a large fulfillment center on the West Plains is access to rail.

Police Chief John Hensley said the bulk of his department’s calls for service are from that area. He said they have had instances where police response to incidents in Terra Vista were delayed by passing trains.

“My greatest fear is that one of my officers responds to a call, a train comes by and they’re alone until that train passes,” Hensley said.

City attorney Stanley Schwartz said the law requires the city to hold a public hearing on the issue within 60 days in order to develop a work plan. He added he has been “struggling with the issue” for several years, watching as development took place how it created bigger strains on existing emergency services and the lack of response by the parties involved in identifying and implementing a solution.

Schwartz said that much of what was said and testified to over 12 years ago is still applicable today.

“It’s remarkable to see what was written in 2006,” Schwartz said. “It has just not been addressed. A public health issue should be concerning. If there isn’t adequate mitigation now, and development occurs, the city will be forced to address it.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.