Second WSU Marriott hotel now in the works

Stories from this compilation are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region.

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A new 122-room Residence Marriott hotel is expected to be constructed soon in Pullman. The project, which is pending permit approval through the Pullman Planning Commission, according to a report, is expected to be constructed near the Residence Inn on Northeast North Fairway Drive, behind the University Recreation Center.

The site of the hotel has been approved through the Pullman Planning Commission, but still is waiting on approval of the permit. The permit plans, according to administrative assistant Bethany Johnson, were sent to the Pullman Planning Commission in February, but modified plans were brought to the city two weeks ago and now include upper modular floors, to be constructed outside of the site in Pullman and brought in to be placed on top of the foundation.

"The project received planning department approval, but is just waiting for the permit to go through," Johnson said.

- Meghann Ferguson,

Whitman County Gazette,

(Colfax), Thursday

City to seek metro park district

After an extended debate, Colfax City Council members Monday night voted unanimously to place a proposal on the Nov. 8 general election ballot to form a metropolitan park district inside the city limits. The vote came after discussion of the metro district proposal and an alternate proposal for a city special levy to finance a study of the pool and fund a short-term solution to the city swimming pool's immediate problems.

The park metro district proposal includes a special levy request of 50 cents for each $1,000 of assessed value that is expected to generate approximately $80,000 in revenue for the new park district.

The special levy proposal was for 37 cents for each $1,000 of assessed value to raise approximately $60,000 in the next tax year. The metro park board option was proposed by the city parks board, which convened Monday night an hour before the regular city council session. A special meeting of the park board was called to start the process because the deadline for filing proposals for the November election was Tuesday.

Prior to council approval of the option for the metro park proposal, City Administrator Mike Rizzitiello advised the council that the city staff believed it stood less of a chance of getting approval from the city voters in November. Councilor Jim Kackman said he also believed the metro district would have less chance of getting approval, and Councilor Al Vorderbrueggen, who is head of the park board, said he also had the same feeling. Vorderbrueggen, however, made the motion to go with the metro option because that was the decision of the park board at its meeting just before the council session.

Park board members Blaine Golden and Sam Korlslund in the earlier session said they favored the metro district proposal because they believed it would put the city on track to a longer-range solution to the swimming pool problems.

Vorderbrueggen questioned whether the city would have time to inform the voters about the formation of the metro district before the November vote. He also noted he was concerned about how much of the city's budgeted funds for park operations could eventually wind up being covered by a new metro park district which could generate revenue from levy proposals.

The city budget for parks averages $178,000 per year. Park board member Don Moore said he also favored the one-year levy as a short-term solution which would produce a report on a long-range approach.

- Whitman County Gazette, (Colfax), Thursday

Bike paths removed from Warren Wagon Road improvement project

Designated bike paths are no longer a part of the planned renovation of 7.5 miles of Warren Wagon Road north of McCall, those at a public meeting on the project were told last week.

The pathways were in the project when a previous public meeting was held in February 2015, but the high cost of widening the road has meant taking the paths out, said Dan Slanina of the Western Federal Lands Highway Division of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The news was delivered during a presentation on the project held last week at the Payette National Forest headquarters building in McCall.

The project, due to start in 2018, has a budget of $11 million to improve the section of the road, which begins about two miles from McCall and ends with the intersection of East Side Drive north of Payette Lake.

The road is narrow, the pavement is deteriorating and there is danger from rocks falling from the hillside along the road, according to a federal study of the road.

During the 2015 meeting, engineers said they had hoped to include defined bicycle paths or shoulders as wide as 4 feet as part of the project. But new costs estimates of widening the road to fit the paths ate too far into the budget, Slanina said.

"Every foot that we add is going to be over a million dollars," he said.

The current plan is to have shoulders that are 3 feet wide, but even that width might be reduced in sections, Slanina said.

- Christie Grob and Tom Grote, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday

Lucky tree on Payette forest picked to head to U.S. Capitol

Ted Bechtol has found the perfect tree on the Payette National Forest to be placed in front of the U.S. Capitol this holiday, but he can't tell anyone where to see it.

Bechtol, the superintendent of grounds for the U.S. Capitol Architect's Office, visited the Payette last week to pick a tree for the west lawn of the Capitol to greet holiday visitors to Washington, D.C.

He found an 80-foot-tall Engelmann spruce as well as at least one backup tree in case Mother Nature deals a blow to the selected tree before it is cut on Nov. 2.

"For security reasons, the location of the tree will not be disclosed," said Brian Harris, public affairs officer for the Payette.

Bechtol likened his search to a beauty contest, picking the tree with the best traditional characteristics of shape, color and fullness.

"It's got to be good all the way around," he said as he gazed into a canopy of possible candidates.

Accompanying Bechtol on his quest last week were Chris Niccoli, a McCall smokejumper, given the task of locating the candidate trees.

Over the past several months, Niccoli and Fire Operation Specialist Jared Schuster tagged 12 trees believed to be the best candidates, according to a specific set of criteria.

- Christie Grob, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday