Sultan
returns $20,000 grant funds for improvements
to BNSF Railroad Crossing at Foundry/Skywall Drives
Transcription of June 11, 2007 Council Meeting Comments (by C/M Bruce Champeaux and R. Cisar)
City's Jan., 2006 Complete Grant application (which contains letters of support from many Skywall residents and public officials); Letters of support only.
May 1, 2007 Letter and residents' petition to the Commission, advising them of the city's irresponsible actions.
May 2, 2007 Email from City (Donna Murphy), returning grant to Commission.
LOCAL
TRAGEDIES FROM
BNSF RR CROSSINGS:
Herald news articles:
06/10/07: "Teen's death at Sultan rail crossing ignites safety effort"
6/6/07: "Services set for crash victim"
6/5/07: "Teen's death brings call to limit railroad crossings"
6/4/07:
"Sultan
teen mourned at vigil"
(almost as an addendum to the above 6/4 article is another train incident
in Gold Bar:: "About 1:30 a.m. Sunday, a man walking along the Burlington
Northern-Santa Fe Railway tracks east of Gold Bar was struck by a train,
the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office reported. The man, a 20-year-old
Woodinville resident, was taken by helicopter to Harborview with critical
injuries, sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. The man's condition
was unknown Sunday night, and his identity was not released."
6/3/07: "One dead, one injured after train hits minivan"
5/14/07: "Three hurt when train hits pickup" (in Sultan)
In mid-June, 2007, Sultan Skywall residents and other citizens have been outraged that the City of Sultan has returned $20,000 to Washington State's Utilities & Transportation Commission. The money was granted because of the extreme safety hazards existing at the BNSF railroad crossing at Foundry and Skywall Drives due to sight distance and low vehicle clearance.
Quote from a letter of support from Sultan resident Dan Ramirez, requesting that the crossing be improved: "My neighbor had his trailer become high centered and get (sic) stuck on the tracks. I have another neighbor whose car high centered and was unable to move without a push. I have also seen trailers that had to have the wheels blocked in order to cross the tracks without getting high centered and stuck."
Quote from the City as justification for the grant money: "This project can be completed within 120 days of construction approval...As you can see from the attached Letters of Support, this crossing is dangerous, and approval of this application could clearly avoid future fatalities. The attached testimonials prove that cars and trucks regularly get "stuck" at this crossing, and so far they've been able to free themselves before a catastrophe occurs."
The $20,000 was returned by the City because the anticipated matching $20,000 in private funds was delayed/did not materialize. The source of the private funds was to be proceeds from Dan Ramirez's Twin Rivers Estate development plat, a residential plat application that has been repeatedly rejected by Hearing Examiner Galt because of the City's non-concurrency with codes re minimum levels of police.