Residents press council to pull Salem Road pathway plan, council advances ordinance on second reading

An extended public hearing on Sept. 28 exposed a sharp divide over Salem Road design details after county staff presented a multi‑project ordinance that authorizes right‑of‑way and temporary construction easement acquisitions for a series of sidewalks, safe‑route, and traffic improvements tied to the 2018 sales‑tax program.

Tom Kaveny, who asked council to carve Salem Road out of the ordinance, told council the backup did not include engineering plans or parcel‑level right‑of‑way detail and asked for the item to be sent back to staff and the community for review. “What I'm asking you to do is to carve out of this particular ordinance the Salem Road sidewalk, to set it aside, to send it back to staff and to the community for review, and then bring it back to Council, for consideration,” Kaveny said. He showed materials he said included engineering plans and parcel impacts that were not in the packet available to residents.

Several residents displayed photos and videos showing large live oaks and a wetland area along the proposed route. Paul Trask, summarizing a video he recorded on site, said the corridor includes a live‑oak canopy and low‑lying wetlands that county and city tree ordinances are designed to protect. “These are very substantial oaks,” he said, arguing that the current schematic could require root‑zone disturbance, specimen‑tree mitigation or condemnation of private property.

Staff and council members discussed tradeoffs: Jared Fralix and other staff said engineered plans exist in project files, that wetlands and utility conflicts influenced routing decisions, and that moving the path to the opposite side of the road raised substantial additional cost (staff cited a million‑dollar order‑of‑magnitude difference in prior project analysis). Council members weighed the public concern against program priorities and the county's criticism for slow delivery of 2018 projects. After discussion, council advanced the ordinance on second reading and directed staff to provide more detailed plans as backup for third reading; council did not adopt amendments removing Salem Road at this meeting.