Tullamore plan advances
POST FALLS - After sputtering for a few years, the multi-use Tullamore development is back on track.
The Post Falls City Council on Tuesday night reversed its decision from two weeks ago to have developer Copper Basin Construction fully fund future traffic signals at Highway 41 and Hope and instead will have the firm pay for half of the estimated $450,000 cost.
The signals are part of the future improvements planned for Tullamore, a 232-acre project west of Highway 41 between Poleline and Prairie, owned by Panhandle State Bank.
Council member Alan Wolfe said, under an amended plan, he wants to ensure Tullamore's new developer abides by the original agreement with regard to funding the signals.
Upon further review and after the council received legal advice from city attorney John Cafferty, Wolfe said, it became clear that having the developer cover half the cost was in the original agreement approved several years ago.
"There was some clarification about the original agreement," Wolfe said after the meeting.
Cafferty apologized to the council for not interjecting about the provisions of the original agreement when the council discussed the amended Tullamore plan and made its decision two weeks ago.
The council on Tuesday voted 5-0 to have the developer fund half of the traffic signals. Two weeks ago, on the same vote, it agreed to have the developer pay for the full cost. Council member Linda Wilhelm recused herself from both votes due to a conflict of interest.
Having the developer pay for half the cost was also the recommendation from city staff. The other half will either be funded with traffic impact fees generated from new growth or by a different adjacent developer in the future.
Mayor Ron Jacobson said the reversed decision was made solely on Cafferty's advice; no one called city officials in the past two weeks to urge the council to reverse its earlier vote. No further testimony was accepted on the matter.
The traffic signals were the only lingering hurdle to moving the amended Tullamore plan forward. Two weeks ago, the council approved developing the site in a nonsequential block format as opposed to phases, with a park of at least 7.08 acres and revised setbacks.
Drew Dittman of Lake City Engineering, which represents Copper Basin and the bank, earlier said the new developers have been picking up the pieces the previous developer didn't fulfill and are trying to finally move the project ahead.
* Prior to the council approving the ordinance on the fiscal 2015 budget, council member Joe Malloy said he would like staff to include in future budget scenarios what a tax decrease would look like in addition to no tax hike and increases as much as 3 percent.