Request made following discussion of newly installed access to northbound Wyoming Highway 130
Property owned by Randy Stevens was a point of discussion for the Saratoga Town Council during the October 20 meeting and centered around a recently installed highway access. The property, which sits along East Maple Avenue between Highway 130 and South River Street, has long been a point of contention and litigation between Stevens and the Town of Saratoga.
“A little background on this, Quality Landscape applied for and was granted a permit by the Department of Transportation of the State of Wyoming to add this entrance. Since then, there have been some people who have called town hall and complained about it,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel. “So, I felt like it was something I could put on the agenda tonight and discuss. So, I’ll turn it over to council comments.”
It should be noted that Stevens was not in attendance and, therefore, could not speak in regards to the highway access. Last year, Stevens had approached the Saratoga Town Council and the Saratoga-Carbon County Impact Joint Powers Board (SCCIJPB) about a water tap for the property indicating that there may be future development.
Councilmember Judy Welton stated that she had talked with Saratoga Town Clerk Suzie Cox who had informed her that the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) had changed their rules on issuing highway access applications.
“The DOT has changed their rules as far as applications that affect the highway and they can now approve this without a site visit,” said Welton. “I think a site visit is warranted for that because of the hill coming down.”
Welton reminded the council and the public of an accident that occurred earlier in the year involving participants for the Skijoring competition held outside Saratoga. In the case of that accident, the icy conditions of the roads had resulted in a truck and trailer sliding down the hill with a number of the occupants injured.
“I think we’re just adding more danger to that street and, especially, when it’s icy or snowy. If you’re coming down that street, which I use a lot, you don’t always see that entrance really quickly. So, if somebody pulled out in front of you, you’re going to have to be ready to stop,” Welton said. “I know he was approved and he went by all the rules but I have the address and the contact information for the head of the DOT and I’d like to see us, as a council if you all agree, write a letter and say ‘We’d like to have a site inspection.’ It’s already there, so I don’t know what they’ll do, but I think it might change their mind. I think it’s a very dangerous place to put an entry to a highway.”
Nelson stated that he had reached out to a regional engineer for WYDOT about the highway access, as well as the design engineer for the highway access with Engineering Associates.
“I assume what we’re looking at in our packets is a WYDOT access site plan from Engineering Associates and I talked to the engineer from Engineering Associates as well. He assured me that before they even proceeded with the design that they had a permit in hand that was provided by Mr. (Randy) Stevens,” said Nelson. “I understand this may not be popular but, today, it’s a WYDOT highway, it’s a WYDOT right-of-way and if you got a permit from WYDOT to build an approach through it I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of process that we can control on the municipal level to restrict that from happening.”
As discussion continued, Saratoga resident Nancy Jansa brought up her concern about the posted speed limit going down the hill. Currently, the speed limit on the hill is 40 miles per hour. When heading northbound, the speed limit changes from 40 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour shortly before the newly installed highway access.
“To the extent that it would be a letter to ask them to evaluate the safety of that corridor, I would not have any objection,” Nelson replied.
Keel stated that he couldn’t see WYDOT retroactively removing the highway access on Stevens’ property and that he was in support of requesting a speed study be conducted.
A motion to send a letter to WYDOT requesting both a site review and a speed study be conducted was passed unanimously.
The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 7 p.m. on November 4 at Saratoga Town Hall.
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