Council flip-flops, Halls Hill Road reopens to traffic

Published 3:00 pm Saturday, August 12, 2006

Neighbors split over whether the closure was necessary or a nuisance.

The City Council ordered the reopening of Halls Hill Road Wednesday despite protests from some who believe the south-end lane may slide into homes.

“Yes, it is a bad road,” Councilman Bob Scales said. “There are a lot of roads on the island that need to be repaired. There’s no reason not to allow vehicles at this time.”

The council accepted a geotechnical consultant’s report that the road is stable enough for travel, while urging city staff to ratchet up work to repair the road before winter and replant the surrounding hillside.

The road had been barricaded for weeks and ordered closed by the council July 12 after calls by Seaborn Road residents and other activists. Sediment and large amounts of water washed down the hill’s south slope last winter.

Spurred by residents’ criticisms, city officials this week admitted the hillside had been improperly replanted after a road improvement project, decreasing the hillside’s stability.

“The city made a big mistake by not following through,” Mayor Darlene Kordonowy said. “We need to do a better job. We all learned a lesson.”

But the lesson didn’t earn a passing grade from Seaborn residents. Stephanie Ross, who has led an energetic campaign to close Halls Hill Road, said opening the road without first fixing it endangers Seaborn’s homes.

“I still believe my safety and welfare are in jeopardy by the current state of Halls Hill Road and I will continue to act accordingly for the safety of my street and community,” she said.

Carol Winston, also of Seaborn, joined Ross in urging the council keep Halls Hill closed.

“I implore you, please, please take care of my safety and my family’s safety,” she said at Wednesday’s meeting. “Please watch over us.”

Seaborn resident Curt Winston, who formerly worked as a federal transportation administrator, called Halls Hill Road “a lousy, decrepit road” that would “not ever come close to the design standards” he oversaw.

But some neighbors said the council was misguided when it closed the road, an action that forced Halls Hill Road residents to drive down narrow Blakely Hill Road, which has its own stability issues.

“The single lane on Blakely Hill Road is difficult to navigate with sharp turns,” Halls Hill Road resident Debbi Brainerd said. “It’s a huge inconvenience.”

“We believe the council made a bad policy (in closing Halls Hill Road). We believe it was based on an emotional appeal from a small number of individuals.”

But Ross contends her emotions are backed by facts. She cast doubt on geotechnical engineering consultant John Peterson’s assessment of the hillside after finding an earlier study he led that judged the hillside unstable and prone to failure.

Ross, an attorney specializing in constitutional law, said the city’s actions on Halls Hill Road – including its failure to properly replant it – were illegal.

“They are still in violation of the law,” she said. “There are civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance.”

Ross would not say if she plans to take legal action against the city.

“I’ll just say, right now, if they don’t comply, it’s really serious,” she said.

Councilman Bill Knobloch, the lone dissenting vote in the decision to reopen the road, said he was concerned about the validity of city-commissioned geotechnical assessments, which tended to reflect the city public works department’s view that the road was safe.

Knobloch also pointed to the study led by Peterson in 2000 that characterized the hill differently than his studies this summer.

“It is our understanding that the landslides and road surface distress have been ongoing for some time,” the city-commissioned report stated. “The slope on the south side of Halls Hill Road had failed in a number of places, resulting in loss of the shoulder and distress to the subgrade and asphalt pavement.”

Since 2000, Halls Hill has undergone substantial residential development and a city-led slope-cutting road project that removed numerous trees and shrubs.

The planning department in 2002 directed the public works to plant 52 trees and 274 native shrubs along the south slope within the year.

Public works failed to follow these directives, planting only grass as a cost-cutting measure, according to city staff.

“It was not replanted,” said City Engineer Bob Earl. “I’m at a loss to tell you why not. It’s not bare, but it’s not planted with Douglas fir, rhododendrons or anything recommended.”

A geotechnical study commissioned by Ross and the Island Keepers environmental group last month cited recent landslides into Seaborn Road and failed safety standards along Halls Hill Road. The report, conducted by the island-based Perrone Consulting, predicted a “high risk” of injury or death should the slope fail.

But Peterson disagreed with Perrone, issuing a report this month that also ran counter to his own 2000 assessment.

“I don’t believe the road created any more hazard than the natural slope angles,” he told the council. “A 6,000-pound vehicle should be able to stay on the paved surface, which is safe.”

Earl said any future slide would only dislodge loose gravel and dirt while the underlying bedrock and mudstone will stay in place.

Peterson agreed and contrasted Halls Hill with a Rolling Bay hillside that collapsed in 1997, killing four residents.

The Rolling Bay hillside had a 70-to-90-degree slope, while Halls Hill slopes at just 40 percent to 55 percent, Peterson said.

Earl pledged to reduce the likelihood of such a slide with new plantings along Halls Hill’s south slope before the fall. His department will improve drainage along the hillside to prevent flooding into the Seaborn neighborhood.