By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 12:00 am
Community forum will air business problems Thursday
PHILOMATH - State Sen. Frank Morse said it's time to consider what one of Philomath's most ambitious road construction projects has meant to the city.
"My interest is helping the community, if there is a serious problem there," Morse said. "The couplet's been there long enough (for us) to assess its affects on businesses."
The couplet, an $11 million state highway project more than 50 years in the planning, rerouted motorists through town, replacing the two-lane travel that slowed the drivers headed to and from the coast.
The state Department of Transportation, a major proponent of the project and its builder, said the couplet was designed to ease the bottleneck through Philomath. But even before construction began in January 2007, business owners worried about sinking sales.
David Hines, owner of Java Connection, said sales at his café are down 50 percent in the aftermath of the couplet.
Nearly a year after the ribbon-cutting, the couplet continues to stir controversy. Critics complain about lost customers and cars speeding through Philomath on the wider roads.
"It sucks," said Colette Marchant, owner of Boots and Heels, a pizza joint on Main Street. "It's horrible. The community hates it."
The couplet was designed to increase safety and move more traffic on Highway 20/34 through town, which doubled as Main Street. The project essentially created two one-way thoroughfares through much of town, on Main Street and Applegate Street from the west end of town to 16th Street.
There, traffic turns into a two-way street with limited left-hand turn opportunities to 21st Street.
The concrete median is now of chief concern to several business owners, some of whose shops can't be reached directly, forcing customers to drive around the block to reach them.
"It's confusing. It's hard to get around. You have to go one block this way to go the other way," said Julie Weitzel of Philomath, a customer at Java Connection.
"All we're asking for is some access," Hines said.
Hines, who's involved in putting on a community forum about the couplet Thursday, has collected about 4,000 signatures on an informal petition in support of getting the Oregon Department of Transportation to remove some of the median barriers.
Vivian Payne, ODOT area manager, said the median was necessary to meet modern safety and mobility standards. "This is the same concern we've been hearing throughout the design process. A lot of those issues were vetted publicly through the City Council," she said.
City documents acknowledge that the couplet did restrict business access and created a business environment that was less inviting for pass-through traffic. But City Manager Randy Kugler said some discontent about the couplet is overblown. "For every instance that a business has been adversely affected, I could bring up a counter to that."
For instance, when the long-time hamburger shop Paul's Place closed in April, the owner cited the couplet as a major factor. But La Rockita, a tacqueria, recently moved its location down the road and into Paul's Place's former Main Street storefront - the business expanded both its size and its client base.
"We've been a lot busier," said Merced Nunez, whose father owns the three restaurants in the chain. And even during construction, sales didn't drop at the old location, she said.
City officials said there wasn't enough notice to residents of Morse's forum. The gathering is informal, not an official public meeting, however.
City councilors likely won't attend, said Mayor Chris Nusbaum. Out of the council, only he had been invited as of Monday night. "Your informal meeting is not the appropriate forum for the council to respond to inquiries in this matter," Nusbaum wrote in a Tuesday letter to Hines.
"City Hall is not in touch with the community," Hines responded, adding that the meeting had to be raised by businesses. "We're the ones who are trying to survive."
Police Chief Ken Elwer said there has been more speeding in the 25 mph zone of downtown Philomath, and therefore more citations issued as a result of the couplet.
"We're going to enforce (the speed limit). It's my No. 1 complaint," Elwer said.
Don Gist, owner of Donde's Floors To Go, said the couplet construction was devastating to sales last year, and his business hadn't recovered. So he moved to Corvallis and saw an increase. But more than the couplet is impacting businesses in Philomath.
"It is not a small town anymore," Gist said. "We're a thoroughfare … Philomath has gone toward a bedroom community, not a stand-alone community."
Kyle Odegard can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.