Seltice road to remain on county's system

Seltice Road, a short cutoff across a bridge about five miles south of Tekoa, will remain on the county’s road system for the coming years. County commissioners Monday decided to drop a proposal to vacate the road after neighborhood residents two weeks ago objected to a proposed vacation.

Two other vacations were approved in a series of hearings in the county commission chambers Monday morning. Properties vacated by the county include the Wagner Road at Refere and parcels of property the county acquired for the upgrade of a segment of the Almota Road project.

The Seltice vacation was dropped for lack of a motion to take action after Commissioner Mike Largent suggested that course of action.

Public Works Director Mark Storey said at the start of the session that he wanted to keep Seltice Road among the nominees for vacation because the county could face substantial repair costs for the short segment in the coming years. He said if the commissioners opted to keep the road in the system, they should realize it will not be considered a significant link for the system in the coming years. He pointed out the county does not want to be in a position of having to spend a “half million” to replace the bridge at sometime in the future.

Storey said the surface of the road is beginning to break up, and replacement and reduced status of the road could mean the paved surface will not be replaced.

Mark Hellinger, the lone neighborhood resident present at Monday’s hearing, said he believes most area residents would go along with that solution. He said residents in the neighborhood feel the road link could last a lot of years in the future.

The Seltice Road links the Warner Road and the Tekoa-Farmington Road. Residents in the area use the road link as a shortcut between the two roads.

Storey Monday said the Warner Road intersection with the Tekoa-Farmington Road is about 2,000 feet north of the Seltice cutoff road. That means residents can save about eight-tenths of a mile by using the cutoff.

Farmington area residents after the first session on the vacation told the Gazette the Seltice route can be used by area residents who want to go to the downtown area of Spokane via Warner Road, Highway 27 through Oakesdale and Highway 271 to Highway 195 south of Rosalia.

Key feature of the Seltice Road is a vintage concrete arch bridge which dates back to the early road system in the neighborhood. The bridge spans Willow Creek.

Storey noted the small bridge could be subject to load limits in the future. The evolution for farm practices to larger equipment, including semi trucks to haul grains from the fields, has made use of the Seltice cut-off for equipment impractical. In addition to the bridge, the Seltice link involves a steep grade up to the Warner Road on the north end, Hellinger pointed out.

Wagner Road is a segment of road in the Revere area along the former Milwaukee right-of-way. Storey explained after the meeting that the road for several years has had very little use and involves relative high maintenance costs because it runs along basalt terrain.

The Almota Road properties which were vacated were parcels that were acquired for construction of phase-two of the Almota Road project between the intersections of Sommer and Prune Orchard Roads. Storey said the parcels were purchased for right-of-way which turned out not to be needed when the project was finished.

Ownership of the road property reverts to the owners of property which adjoin the vacated roads on each side. In the case of the Almota parcels, the vacated parcel will go to the owners of property that now adjoin the rebuilt road, Storey explained.