6A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • FEBRUARY 20, 2019
Sears Road from A1
lanes and four-foot shoulders
on both sides, budgeted at $1.57
million in the county’s capital im-
provement program for the 2022
fi scal year.
Even in the fi rst phase, howev-
er, the county has come up against
resistance. Sears Road resident Lin-
da Raade-Vaught, who according
to the report owns the only tree
marked for removal on private
property, has been a vocal petition-
er against the project as well as a
monkey wrench in the county’s de-
signs on her abutting property.
Raade-Vaught said an agree-
ment between the previous land-
owner, her father, and the county
extends her property eight feet into
the roadway, meaning she has been
paying 70 years of taxes on land the
county has allowed to be used by
the public.
“Th ey sent me a letter off ering
me $2,000 for the tree and my land.
… but I refused to do it,” Raade-
Vaught said. “Unless they take it by
eminent domain, they’re not going
to take my property.”
In response to her objections, the
report states that “Vaught’s tree will
not be removed while it remains
on her private property without
her permission,” though it recom-
mends that the existing guardrail
around the tree be replaced.
Gallup, in his presentation to the
board, warned against non-action.
“If we do not use these funds
per ODOT’s expectations, we may
need to return the funds to ODOT,”
he said.
Th e project report further
warned against not using the funds.
“Th e project decision-makers
need to know that if we do not ex-
pend the All Roads Transportation
Safety (ARTS) funding allocated by
ODOT, it will be diffi cult to secure
those funds in the future,” it said.
“Agencies are held accountable for
transportation funding and grants
that are not programmed or com-
pleted can result in penalties, rang-
ing from future funding not being
granted to that agency to funding
being reallocated to other agencies.”
Testimonies
During the public hearing, sev-
en residents and interested parties
gave public testimony in objection
to the proposed project.
Jim Poetzl, a Sears Road resident,
stated that about six trees previous-
ly marked for cutting were on his
property and provided a barrier to
traffi c.
“I have kids,” he said, “and in the
initial proposal you guys were going
to remove trees that were directly
in front of my house, which is my
safety corridor from the road. … I
don’t need a car at 55 miles an hour
that loses control … come crashing
through my yard and hitting one of
my kids.”
Poetzl pointed to a rise in chil-
dren in the area and a lack of signs
warning drivers about children at
play as more pressing issues to be
addressed. A wider road, he added,
would encourage drivers to speed.
“Th e last time I checked, trees
don’t walk in front of cars. Th ey’ve
been there for hundreds of years
and they have not been hit as of
today,” he stated. “So if you remove
those trees, all you’re going to do
is allow people to be less attentive
in their driving and increase their
speeds.”
Next, Marlene Nowak, who
co-owns the land with her sister,
Raade-Vaught, started her testi-
mony by noting that the county
had years ago mistakenly placed
the road eight feet into her family’s
property.
Nowak presented a petition of 60
signatures from residents of Sears
Road to reject the proposed proj-
ect. Th ough four households were
not home, she said, 100 percent of
the residents she solicited signed
the petition.
“Th ey do not want the trees re-
moved. Th ey do not want the road
widened,” she said. “Th ey just want
double-yellow lines. … and speed
limit be posted.”
Nowak’s sister, Raade-Vaught,
approached the board next to off er
her own safety recommendations
on Sears Road.
“Yes, there have been lots of in-
cidents along the roadway, but not
all of them have involved fi xed ob-
jects,” she said. “In fact, there have
been more airplane crashes result-
ing in multiple fatalities on proper-
ty next to the roadway than motor
vehicle accidents.”
Raade-Vaught cited other Sears
Road residents’ main concern as
being excessive speed, “both private
and Lane County vehicles from the
maintenance shop.”
Making Sears Road another
thoroughfare just over a mile from
Interstate 5, she said, would just put
residents at risk.
Raade-Vaught recommended
re-striping the road, placing fog
lines, increasing double-yellow
lines on straightaways and install-
ing rumble strips as solutions.
Next, Joe Raade, testifying as a
Sears Road resident, emphasized
Highway 99 as needing more atten-
tion.
“Highway 99 between Saginaw
and Cottage Grove is by far our
most dangerous part of South Lane
County,” he said.
Addressing the crash incidents
on Sears Road from the project re-
port, Raade spoke in his capacity
as a fi rst responder at South Lane
County Fire and Rescue.
“I had the unfortunate experi-
ence of responding to all six of those
emergencies up there,” he said.
On the fatality, Raade said, “He
was dead before he left the road. I
know that fi rst-hand.”
Raade urged commissioners to
look elsewhere for solutions.
“Th e accidents on our road are
not related to the objects. Th ey are
related to the speed,” he said. “Th ey
are related to some of your coun-
ty vehicles that are parked three
houses down from me. Th ose are
instances that you can fi x and that
are in your control to fi x without
having to use this money.”
Raade also pointed to Mosby
Creek Road and London Road as
needing safety attention.
In a subsequent interview with
Th e Sentinel, Raade explained his
knowledge as a fi rst responder to
the accidents cited by the project
report.
“All but one of those involved in-
toxicants,” he said.
According to Raade, regarding
the fatality, an elderly passenger
of the car had experienced a heart
attack. His wife, who was driving,
was distracted by the event and
had a low-impact crash with a tree
stump. No injuries resulted from
the crash, but the passenger did not
survive his medical emergency.
Continuing testimonials, Gwen
Jaspers, a member of the council’s
Transportation Advisory Commit-
tee stepped up to the microphone.
“I am opposed to removing 61
trees along a two-mile stretch of
Sears Road,” she said.
Jaspers criticized the proposal
for not addressing intoxication and
the young ages of those responsible
for the traffi c accidents.
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“I argue that to accommodate
irresponsible driver behavior does
not promote a culture that priori-
tizes safety,” she said. “A fi rst step to
safety would be to reduce the speed
limit.”
Th ough the process of applying
for a speed limit change had been
referred to “futile” in previous
meetings, Jaspers noted that an
ODOT rule change is being con-
sidered that would take into con-
sideration the larger context of a
roadway in question.
Jaspers also made the case that
wider roads will make speeding
and crashes more frequent due to a
false perception of safety by drivers.
Robin Mayall from Springfi eld
next brought testimonial to the
board from a cyclist’s perspective.
Criticizing Highway 99 as “a cy-
clists nightmare,” Mayall argued
that the removal of trees on Sears
Road would have a severe econom-
ic impact on businesses that benefi t
from a regular stream of cyclists.
“We should be looking at ways
to make this road safer and quieter
for residents and more attractive to
area cyclists,” she said.
Mayall recommended “some
combination of law enforcement
activity, speed-calming treatments
and a re-designation of this road
potentially as a scenic bikeway.”
Sears Road resident Mark Kin-
tigh fi nished testimonials by sup-
porting previous testimonies.
“Speed has always been an is-
sue,” he said. “I’ve had a number of
crashes go through my fences onto
my property.”
Kintigh feared that removing the
objects would put the safety burden
on the property owners rather than
the reckless drivers.
“I think it would be more fi scally
responsible to turn the money back
and have it used for a better use,” he
said.
Board Responses
Commissioner Heather Buch,
who represents the district encom-
passing Sears Road, spoke fi rst in
response to the testimonials.
“I, too, like the last speaker, don’t
like to spend money just to spend
money,” Buch said. “I want to know
that it’s spent wisely and it’s some-
thing that the community wants.”
Buch noted that the project
seemed to come about as a request
from ODOT rather than the resi-
dents.
In response to an inquiry about
speed limits, Gallup responded
that a speed study on Sears Road
revealed that most drivers were
traveling at a speed between 50
and 55 miles per hour. While will-
ing to submit an application to ad-
just speed, Gallup said the process
would take six to eight months and,
“It’s been my experience in the past
that their recommendation is right
at what most drivers are doing.”
Gallup added that the problem
with adjusting speed limits too
low is “speed diff erential,” whereby
drivers become frustrated, are more
likely to pass other vehicles and
crash incidents consequently rise.
Buch expressed a desire to ex-
plore alternatives before green
lighting the project.
“It’s sounds like a solution for a
problem … that doesn’t exist,” said
Commissioner Joe Berney. “What
is driving it other than dollars?” he
asked Gallup.
Gallup cited crash data again, but
Berney was unimpressed.
“I’m having trouble understand-
ing, if you have virtually 100 per-
cent of the people living on the road
saying ‘Please don’t do this,’ and
there are other ways to approach
the problem, why we wouldn’t be
looking at those other ways,” que-
ried Berney.
“Th e fi xed objects create the se-
verity of the crash,” explained Lane
County Engineer Peggy Kepler.
“When people leave the roadway
and they hit a fi xed object, the se-
verity of the crash is higher than if
it wasn’t there.”
Commissioner Jay Bozievich
took the point. “Fixed object re-
moval is about allowing people to
make mistakes and recover from
them,” he said. “I know this because
I used to design roadways for a liv-
ing.”
Bozievich also warned about the
possible legal liability of taking no
action aft er a road has been identi-
fi ed as a safety risk, referring to past
cases where the county had been
sued by injured parties.
Board Chair Pete Sorenson add-
ed sobering information to the dis-
cussion to highlight the need for
attention on the issue.
“Lane County exceeded the traf-
fi c deaths of Portland, Oregon,” he
said. “Substantially all the traffi c
deaths over a 10-year period came
out of rural Lane County. We were
the death leader in the state for
many years and maybe still are.”
As the board members circled in
on a decision, Commissioner Pat
Farr addressed the crowd of Sears
Road residents in the audience di-
rectly.
“I think there’s a lot more that
needs to be talked about before we
cut the trees,” he said. “I’d much
rather a fi xed object be a tree than
your house.”
Sorenson recommended a two-
month delay on the vote to come
up with a strategy and Kepler noted
that the intergovernmental agree-
ment with ODOT allows for up to
10 years to come up with a solution.
Commissioners ended the hear-
ing by voting unanimously to de-
lay voting for two months, during
which time Commissioner Buch
would arrange a community meet-
ing with residents and city staff .
Commissioner Buch had not re-
sponded to inquires as of the sub-
mission of this article.
Outside the board chambers,
residents were generally pleased
with the results, but far from com-
placent.
“I was glad they spoke about the
speed on the road,” said Sears Road
resident Bonnie Edwards. Even so,
Edwards lamented that she oft en
sees cars treating the road “like a
racetrack. … It happens every day.”
Nowak agreed. “I want to see the
speed limit at least lowered to 45. I
want no passing,” she said. Howev-
er, she was on the fence regarding
other solutions. “Th e rumble strips,
that’s a questionable thing for me
because, even though it’s a safety
thing, it is really bad for the peo-
ple who live there,” referring to the
strips’ disruptive noise.
Whatever solutions are ulti-
mately decided upon, the next two
months will see residents consid-
ering a range of options concern-
ing the safety issues of Sears Road.
Striking a balance between county
and resident interests rests on the
fruitfulness of the coming discus-
sions as well as a unifi ed local voice.
Until then, residents can continue
to enjoy the tree shade of their sce-
nic rural road.
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