Pazen, Klemgard road service on the chopping block

Two of four county roads set to be abandoned by the county appeared to be on track for approval by Whitman County commissioners Monday. Legal concerns over eliminating water access will delay the procedure for the two others.

Mark Storey, county public works director, said he has checked into concerns voiced by residents of the four roads last week. In a workshop session Monday, he advised commissioners to proceed with plans to abandon the Pazen Road just south of Colfax and the Klemgard Road above Wawawai.

Residents of each of the roads voiced their opposition to abandonment at a public hearing last week.

Abandonment of the roads would mean ownership of the road bed would revert to adjacent property owners, who would then be responsible for maintenance. It also means the county would no longer be responsible for plowing the roads in the winter.

Storey last week noted the roads under consideration serve single landowners and do not contribute to the county’s overall transportation grid.

He told commissioners Monday that concerns expressed over the Pazen and Wawawai roads were not significant enough to keep them in the county system.

Nancy Persons lives on the Pazen Road. At last Monday’s hearing, she told commissioners the 2006 reconstruction of the intersecting Almota Road left her a steep approach to the arterial that she cannot get through in winter snow.

Storey recommended that commissioners await legal advice before proceeding with abandonment action on the Campbell Road south of Tekoa and the Hatley Road near Ewartsville.

Those two roads have bridges that span waterways. Attorney Richard Perednia of Spokane last week cited a state law that forbids public agencies from abandoning roads that provide access to bodies of water.

Perednia attended the hearing on behalf of the Bert Loucks family, which owns a portion of the land around the Campbell Road. The portion of the road up for vacation contains a bridge over Hangman Creek at the east end of Campbell Road.

The Mac Hatley Road, also up for abandonment, has a bridge that crosses the Union Flat Creek to provide access to the home of Roger and Jacqueline Daisley.

Storey said he received conflicting interpretations of the law last week from the state attorney general’s office and the Municipal Research Service Center.

He said he has asked county Prosecutor Denis Tracy for advice, but has not yet been able to meet with him about the matter.