HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After more than 2 ½ hours of discussion, the Hutchinson City Council could not come to an agreement to change South Main Street from Avenue C to Carey Park from four lanes to two.
The matter was placed on the agenda after Councilman Steve Dechant brought it up during the comments section of the last meeting. Both Dechant and Mayor Dave Inskeep wanted to pass the change during the previous meeting, but the other three council members refused to pass the change without hearing from owners along the corridor first.
The proposal brought a flurry of emails and other messages from businesses along the corridor who were — for the most part — against any change. Still, Dechant and Inskeep refused to adhere to the wishes of business owners and pushed to get some type of reduction in lanes passed. Dechant, who said the proposal was about having access to Carey Park for cyclists two weeks ago, backed off that statement during Tuesday’s meeting stating that he now wanted to do away with the bike lanes. His new proposal was to reduce South Main to two lanes, add a center turn lane and keep angle parking.
“It’s not so much that I was invested in a bike lane necessarily other than talking about aesthetics and walkability and making it a place for walkers, for people in cars and people on bicycles,” Dechant said.
Inskeep insisted that the road needed to be narrowed to two lanes as the most complaints about losing parking spaces under the change were unfounded. “We’ve heard from at least a handful that suggested that parking was the main factor, so I go back again the question has changed,” Inskeep said. “I think its .67 of a mile of asphalt that will not disrupt any of the parking. It won’t change, it’ll be exactly as it was.” The mayor added it would also slow down traffic, which would be a benefit to some businesses.
Councilman John Daveline said that Inskeep’s and Dechant’s refusal to approve the current configuration was a case of not listening to business owners. “I’m still very adamant about listening to businesses via email, telephones and this morning and nothing has modified or changed my plans,” Daveline said.
Daveline was backed by Councilwoman Jade Piros de Carvalho, who is a strong proponent of bike lanes and the Complete Streets concept, but stated, like Daveline, that the area was not a good fit. “I’m not against going against the status quo when it makes sense,” Piros de Carvalho said. “I feel like this isn’t maybe the most appropriate to have a pilot project.” Her comments came after Dechant said the reconfiguration should be tried and if it doesn’t work they can always change it back. Many business owners, like Tyson and Midwest Iron and Metal, were against the change because of the large amount of truck traffic that can tie up lanes. Others expressed concerns over traffic congestion and long lines due to waiting on trains in the area.
After all of the discussion, Daveline motioned to keep the street configuration as is. With Councilwoman Nancy Soldner absent, the vote was 2-2 with Inskeep and Dechant voting no. Soldner would have sided with Daveline’s motion had she been present.
Inskeep then made a motion to go with Dechant’s revised plan. That vote was also 2-2 with Daveline and Piros de Carvalho voting no. After another 30 minutes of discussion, it was determined that neither side would budge and an impasse was declared. With that, City Attorney Paul Brown stated that the contract for the project, which was approved by the council, would go on as planned. “You have a binding contract, you have no further action from the council as you could not achieve a three-person majority,” Brown said. “There’s a contract in effect . . . there’s no agreement to change it so we have a binding contract.” With that, the road configuration will stay the same.
The resurfacing and striping of the project is expected to be done in two to three weeks.