In the near future, Highway 99 could be a destination, not merely a pass-through.
It’s got a ways to go, but Clark County and Team 99 – a group of business leaders, neighbors and property owners pushing for redevelopment in the area – are working toward a sub-area plan to guide the effort.
In order to get everyone on the same page in terms of what the area offers now and to inspire ideas for change, Clark County’s Community Planning Department has organized a tour of the corridor’s historical, commercial and residential areas.
The 90-minute guided tours will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, leaving from the Starbucks parking lot at the intersection of 78th Street and Highway 99.
The county will host a planning symposium Sept. 27 to gather public opinion about how to move forward with a sub-area plan that will include a vision and identity for the area, design standards, zone changing and potential projects for the next six years.
It is Team 99’s hope that the plan will provide incentive for developers and investors.
“Once it’s adopted, they can feel comfortable that there are these guidelines that everyone will go by,” said Ila Stanek, Team 99 secretary and president of the West Hazel Dell Neighborhood Association. “Developers can spend millions on their upscale projects and nobody can put in a gravel pit or something equally obnoxious next to them.”
Team 99 – “A terribly tenacious bunch,” Stanek said – has been working toward this goal for nearly eight years.
“A lot of people are familiar with Highway 99 itself and there are a lot of reactions to it,” said Colete Anderson, Community Planning project manager. “Most peoples’ experience with it is driving from point A to point B, and they don’t stray from the corridor they’re traveling.
“This is about creating an image and making it a draw, and in order to start that process, people need to be familiar with the area itself, not just the path they travel.”
The tour route highlights a loop of neighborhoods, businesses, school sites and historical landmarks, and the self-guided tour asks participants to assess safety, traffic patterns and aesthetics.
“Many people have a hard time visualizing how things change,” Anderson said. “It’s going to take a lot of time, but it is possible. We’re getting prepared.”
Anderson said the department regularly hears from developers regarding Highway 99.
They have been reluctant to invest in the area because of the current conditions, she said.
Ron Wilson, president of the Hazel Dell/Salmon Creek Business Association and member of Team 99, said Highway 99 is deadlocked.
It is difficult to get developers to invest in crime-ridden neighborhoods and run-down commercial areas, but it’s difficult to make improvements without their investment, he said.
Wilson has a three-prong approach to redevelopment: improve the road network, revive the neighborhoods that “require a large amount of sheriff’s office attention” and lift the development moratorium in Salmon Creek.
“It’s really unfortunate the moratorium extended so far south of 134th Street,” he said. “The market has been ripe the last two years for Highway 99 to begin to redevelop.”
Wilson, who owns commercial property in the moratorium area near 134th Street, said he is aware of two developments that would have likely gone forward in the Highway 99 area otherwise.
“The moratorium is really cumbersome to deal with,” he said. “National companies don’t have time and they won’t deal with it. They go for deals they can do.”
But moratorium aside, Wilson said without neighborhood improvements, development efforts likely won’t go anywhere.
“A neighborhood that has 450 crime inquiries a year is not going to be an area where a developer or a restaurant is going to invest,” he said. “It’s quite discouraging.”
And aesthetically, the area couldn’t be much uglier, Wilson added.
“That’s not to say there isn’t a nice business here or there, but it’s old,” he said. “Plus, it’s not pedestrian or bike friendly, and that’s not good for business. These are not earth-shattering observations, just common sense.”
But, Stanek pointed out, the effort is somewhat constrained because of some property and business owners unwilling to invest in upgrading.
“You can’t force people to spend money they don’t want to or don’t have,” she said. “We have some business owners who don’t see the benefit of redeveloping.”
Team 99 is hoping to encourage new and existing business to grow with the area, and to provide a nice, healthy place for people to live.
“A lot of people want the community improved,” Stanek said. “There are some who don’t care, but there are just as many who do.”
Similarly, there is only so much the county can do to facilitate change.
It can recommend planning, zoning and design tools, and may have the ability to coordinate opportunities for development reimbursement and incentives.
Those incentives may not end up coming from the county, but it’s much easier to shop for funding when there is a plan and public commitment in place – “That’s our role,” Anderson said. “There are limits to what the county can and can’t do, but we want to be a resource.”
