Palmer neighbors frustrated

PALMER -- When the city of Palmer recently paved Blueberry Street, they created a faster, smoother route to the Palmer post office. But local residents say it also created a narrow, harrowing road with speeding vehicles and no sidewalks, paving the way to disaster.

When homeowner Jim Helgeson got his $1,800 bill in the mail to help pay for the improvements to the street, he decided it was time to give the Palmer City Council a piece of his mind. Not only was he being billed for a standard 24-foot-wide street and getting less than 20 feet of pavement and no sidewalk, he said during the past years since the roadwork was completed he has seen speeding and traffic worsen considerably.

"It's a nightmare that I am faced with," Helgeson told the council. He described having a speeding vehicle hurtle into his yard and said it was only luck that his two children weren't playing outdoors at the time. The vehicle spun out, ripping up his yard as it sped off.

Other times, he said, he has observed motorists completely ignore small children along the residential street and last summer a girl on a bicycle was struck. She survived the accident, but Helgeson warned it will only be a matter of time before something worse occurs. He said he doesn't allow his two children to go to the nearby park, the John Bugge Tot Lot, because he feels the roadway is too unsafe.

In addition, he said people often cruise the area at night, driving fast and throwing alcohol bottles into his yard and at nearby signs. Helgeson said he has called Palmer Police Department on numerous occasions to report speeders. He added that when he once suggested to an officer that the area be better patrolled or a radar set up, he was told Palmer officers had more important areas to patrol, such as the Glenn Highway.

Eventually, Helgeson said, "Children at Play" signs were put up but he said he hasn't noticed any decline in the speeding or traffic. He requested the council consider other traffic control options, such as a three-way stop or speed bumps.

Two other Blueberry Street residents also took to the podium to complain, saying they had carefully measured the street to find it just shy of 20 feet, while their bill said they were getting 24 feet of pavement. In addition, they too said the speed of traffic on the street has increased greatly since it was paved.

City officials explained that Palmer had less than the normal amount of right of way for that street because of the location of lots and so built as wide of a road as it could, and was left with no room for a sidewalk. City Manager Tom Healy said that while it was true that the slightly narrower road cost less to pave, the savings had been spread out among the several streets included in the local improvement district.

Council members, however, seemed to agree with residents that this wasn't fair and asked the city public works department to estimate a cost for that several fewer feet of pavement and deduct it from the bill for those who live on Blueberry Street.

As for the traffic problem, Councilman Tony Pippel said they would talk with the city traffic and public works experts to see what options are available. Several council members said they believed a three-way stop could slow traffic down, but said speed bumps are generally considered a liability problem for a city.

Councilman Brad Hanson told the city manager he hopes the Palmer Police Department gets the message that neighborhoods like this are a priority and that speeders should be targeted in the area.