Road to nowhere gets somewhere

After at least six frustrating years, a property owner near College Parkway will be able to get to College Parkway.

Lorainne Weikel, owner of Wykle Research, a worldwide manufacturer and developer of dental products, has tried to work with the Carson City since 1994 on recreating access to Challenger Way taken away with College Parkway's construction in 1993.

Carson City's Regional Transportation Commission on Wednesday agreed that connecting the 1,800-foot road to College Parkway was the city's responsibility, offering Weikel $120,000 - $70,000 more than the RTC budgeted for the extension.

"There's no doubt in my mind this has to be done," Commissioner Marv Teixeira said.

Weikel's attorney, Scott Heaton, presented the commission with the "muddled" paper trail scattered by the many city staff members who have dealt with the project.

"I need to say I think it's unfortunate we have to look to you to bring this material," Commissioner Bob Kennedy said.

Heaton provided a brief history of the project, starting with Weikel giving the city a portion of her land for a drainage easement in 1993.

"Mrs. Weikel took the city for its word," Heaton said. "From the outset the city promised her something but hasn't given it. Here we are five years later and nothing has happened.

"We have never thought it was our obligation to put these improvements in. The fact of the matter is when College Parkway was realigned to benefit other property owners, Mrs. Weikel lost."

In 1994, Hot Springs Road was brought to a dead end at Challenger with no notice to Weikel. Since then different city officials have promised help but the issue continued with no resolution.

Because of the limited access, Weikel has lost potential businesses wishing to locate on her 16 acres of property and has spent at least $35,000 on engineering and attorney fees while trying to gain the city's cooperation, Heaton said.

The improvements to extend Challenger to College Parkway and to realign Hot Springs Road to a safer alignment with Challenger are estimated between $120,000 and $137,000.

"If we'd solved this problem in 1994 or 1995, it would have been substantially less expensive," Commissioner Steve Reynolds said.

Heaton said Weikel would settle for the lower amount and would pay any extra costs over that. Weikel would front all costs and ask the city for repayment when the project is completed.

Street Operations Manager John Flansberg noted something would have to be dropped from the RTC's funding list next year in order to fund the extra $70,000.

"Where we find the money is going to have to be our problem," Teixeira said.

Commissioners agreed that the treatment of the Weikels by the city was unfair. While they couldn't blame current city staff for the mistakes of the past, they asked that they keep a better eye on dealing with potential issues like the Challenger Way extension.

"It's important that the city doesn't harm people in doing its projects," Chairman Jon Plank said. "It's important not to enrich people, but just make sure we make just compensation. The best thing to do is fix the thing and hope things like this don't keep flying in our face."

Weikel's daughter, Joni, said she was grateful for the RTC's decision to end years of frustration. She said the road would probably be constructed within the next year.