Rockwood LID

Rockwood Boulevard Repaving Opportunity Action Plan

Never in its history has Rockwood Boulevard been repaved in its entirety. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to help preserve the lasting beauty and unique environment found on Rockwood Boulevard.

Rockwood Boulevard Opportunity:

Thanks to Spokane’s Ten Year Street Bond, Rockwood Boulevard is scheduled for repaving in 2013. The entire Boulevard from Cowley to Southeast as well as southbound Upper Terrace from 17^th to Rockwood will be included. Fortunately, this will remedy the Boulevard’s potholed and deteriorating driving surface providing us with new, smooth asphalt. Unfortunately, the Bond provides only curb-to-curb work and cannot address some of the other serious and growing challenges Rockwood Boulevard has suffered over the years. The road work already scheduled gives us a historic opportunity to begin to remedy some of these other challenges at the same time.

The Rockwood Boulevard Design Committee History and Vision:

In October of 2010, the Rockwood Neighborhood Council (RNC) held a public meeting to inform neighborhood residents of the upcoming street work. At that time, the RNC formed a sub-committee to identify neighborhood concerns about: 1) growing traffic on Rockwood, 2) its impact on adjoining streets, and 3) to explore possible remedies that might be added to the project. After eight months of meetings through which we sought neighborhood concerns and professional advice, the committee identified some key opportunities that can and should be addressed concurrently with the repaving. These challenges include:

• Traffic Calming: (the number one issue of all concerned) The speed limit is 25 miles per hour. The growing number of commuters using Rockwood as a through-route to Southeast, to Grand, and to 29^th, via Garfield and other neighborhood streets, routinely exceed this limit, roll through or ignore the three-way stop at Garfield and in general create serious safety hazards for school children, other pedestrians, and bicyclists. In fact it is likely that a new, smooth road surface will encourage even greater speeds. This is NOT what Rockwood Boulevard was ever intended to be (see the homepage discussion of the Olmsted vision). Traffic needs to be slowed and through traffic needs to be discouraged to preserve our peaceful neighborhood.
• Pedestrian Safety: Rockwood Boulevard and its neighborhood is a beautiful place to walk. However, a growing number of children cross Rockwood and Garfield on their way to school using crosswalks that are either not maintained or non-existent. Also, a significant portion of Rockwood Boulevard has no sidewalk at all forcing pedestrians into the street. Encouraging pedestrian and student safety is fundamental to the walking enjoyment Rockwood offers.
• Bicycle Access and Safety: Portions of Rockwood Boulevard are designated as a bicycle route. Its unique and varied landscape makes it a very special and rewarding ride. However, this route is not marked nor is it continuous. Bicycling should be encouraged on Rockwood for both recreation and commuting as a healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to cars.
• Historic and Environmental Preservation: Rockwood Boulevard once was a route for street cars connecting the downtown with the historic homes on the South Hill. It was a desired place to live then and still is now. It is a designated historic boulevard. Unfortunately, increasing traffic, speeds, and congestion threaten to change forever the unique treasure Rockwood was designed to be. Rockwood Boulevard is not a thoroughfare. It is, and always was, a peaceful and beautiful way to come home. We need to preserve this.

The committee’s suggestions:

The committee, charged with finding ways to address these challenges, put together a list of very specific additions to the basic repaving plan. Professional help was provided free of charge by Len Zickler and his architectural firm, AHBL, Inc. Please note that as we discovered some of our original ideas are not possible within the city engineering parameters, we have proposed other solutions through discussions with the city. Here is an updated version of our conceptual ideas (but for now they remain conceptual):

• Altered color intersections to indicate possible pedestrian use at key intersections from Sumner to Pittsburg including the most critical points at the Garfield intersection. We hope to include two key student crossing intersections on Garfield. These intersections could include traffic bumps to alert drivers of potential pedestrians crossing. The change in road surface will slow the cars as they go through the intersections;
• Curb bump-outs at these intersections and at some additional locations along the Boulevard to narrow the street. Studies show that narrowing the street is the #1 way to slow traffic. Hopefully these can be designed to include plantings especially of trees. Parking will be preserved but traffic will be slowed;
• A new concrete pathway over the grassy berm at Garfield to link the crosswalks at Rockwood and the parallel upper Rockwood getting pedestrians and students safely and quickly across two streets without having to walk into traffic;
• A traffic triangle at Rockwood and Arthur to narrow the intersection and guide traffic. This is also meant to provide greater safety for pedestrians, especially students crossing to get to Hutton.
• A striped and signed bike lane the entire length of Rockwood Boulevard. On the north and east sides this would run the entire length of Rockwood. On the south and west sides, the bike lane will be diverted along Upper Terrace to provide a safer route around the large boulevard curve.
• Completion of the sidewalk from Perry to Crestline on the north side only, but still providing the Boulevard with a continuous sidewalk its entire length;
• Signage at each entrance to Rockwood Boulevard, at Cowley and at Southeast, to designate Rockwood Boulevard, and the Rockwood neighborhood as a historical landmark..

Rockwood Boulevard Residents Accept the Challenge to Form an LID:

When a neighborhood sees a vital need that cannot be satisfied with available public funds, a tool that can be used is a Local Improvement District, or LID. An LID is a special tax assessment shared by the affected property owners to pay for needed local improvements. In this case, the assessment, determined by the City, would affect those properties that are adjacent to Rockwood Boulevard and is based on the per foot frontage on Rockwood. This project would involve two assessments: one to all properties for the overall improvements (intersection work, bump-outs, bike lanes, and signage) and an additional assessment, per City codes, for new sidewalks only to those properties adjacent to the proposed new sidewalk.. An LID assessment can be paid all at once, or financed over ten years. The City will not even consider an LID unless it determines that it will add real, offsetting value to the properties assessed.

As required, the committee provided the city with a list of desired improvements and, based on this list, the city provided us with a cost estimate to present to the Rockwood Boulevard residents. Block Captains were found from residents along Rockwood who were interested in helping get resident’s signatures on the LID petition. Over the summer and through the fall, the Block Captains contacted the owners of the 184 parcels. By the end of the 2011, the signatures were turned in to the City for verification. The LID was a “GO” with over 50% participation.

It is certain that the addition of these amenities will increase the desirability and value of Rockwood Boulevard homes, and the quality of life of Rockwood Boulevard residents.

The Latest Developments (through January 2012):

At this time, the City has hired Len Zickler and his firm to work with the City street department to turn our conceptual desires into a concrete (no pun intended) design. Through the design process, the Rockwood Boulevard Design Committee and the Rockwood Boulevard residents will be kept informed along the way. Preliminary scheduling includes a workshop with Rockwood Boulevard residents in April and a public LID hearing in June.

STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS and DETAILS!!