Business owners criticize Project Downtown

Downtown business owners and community members condemned Project Downtown during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Nearly a dozen addressed the council during its public comment period, urging members to reconsider plans to uproot Main Street and find better options that support the town’s businesses.

More attention has been drawn to the city after it announced last week it received multiple bids from contractors interested in building Project Downtown. The city sent out the project to bid a second time in January, adjusting some design elements and extending its construction timeline.

City staff will evaluate all bids in a special meeting at noon next Tuesday and possibly finalize the plan. Councilors unanimously voted during this week’s meeting to add a public comment period to the special meeting after hearing residents’ concerns.

Project Downtown is a city-led effort to revamp Pullman’s streets, public spaces and infrastructure. It includes Main Street from Grand Avenue to Spring Street, aiming to upgrade utilities, streets, sidewalks and the downtown layout. Construction is expected to begin April 1 and finish Oct. 15.

CJ Robert, owner of Pups and Cups Cafe, said the project was originally sold to the community as a beautification project that would take only the summer to build. She added the current design is just an infrastructure project and will take more than double the advertised amount to build.

Judy Kolde, owner of Sanctuary Yoga, Barre and Dance, said Pullman is a hard place to do business in because of the yearly four-month absence of Washington State University students. She said everyone’s in a tough position and she worries some businesses might not survive a “devastating” extended construction timeline into the fall.

Tim Paulitz, a Pullman resident, brought downtown trees to the council’s attention. All mature trees that line Main Street will be removed with the project and replaced with saplings. He said Save Downtown Trees, a group opposing the plan formed in September, created a petition with 2,500 signatures opposing the removal.

Many community members mentioned Save Downtown Pullman’s survey conducted earlier this month. It canvassed downtown businesses to gauge impacts expected from construction, and set out to find solutions. It found the majority of downtown businesses are not equipped financially to withstand Project Downtown’s construction timeline. Solutions like a two-year, three-month construction phase and trenchless piping were proposed.

A majority of commenters said they were displeased with current design and what it’s evolved into. They asked councilors to evaluate plans and consider alternatives to come to an agreement most are happy with.

Councilors decided to add a public comment period to the Feb. 6 special meeting.

“Our community has really repeatedly voiced, as we can see, concerns that they’re feeling unheard,” councilor Eric Fejeran said. “I feel we can take this opportunity to change that narrative next week.”

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com