Karl Krieg was quoted in your paper on Dec. 26 as saying, “It’s just the thought of a gravel pit that upsets them…”
Mr. Krieg also said we would not even notice the trucks, stating, “There could be a truck every 15 minutes…” Even if that is not understated, there would be a truck every 15 minutes on a road with almost no shoulder, a steep hill to a stop sign and Island Transit bus turnaround, kids waiting for school buses, hikers, joggers, walkers, bicyclists, and other vehicles using the road. Think about it!
The Krieg written proposal says there will be up to 45 trucks a day going into the gravel pit. The way I understand that is 90 trips a day, since a truck “into” the pit would generate a truck coming “out” of the gravel pit. Half of the trucks would be empty (going in), the other half would be fully loaded (coming out), probably many with a trailer. The proposal says the pit will operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and there will not be electric power run to the site. With no electric power to the site, during the winter it will obviously operate fewer hours since there will not be any lights. If the pit could really operate 11 hours each day, heavy truck traffic would increase by almost 9 trucks an hour on that section of road. That is more than double the stated one truck every 15 minutes. Considering the hours of daylight during the fall and winter months, when the proposal says most gravel will be extracted, there would certainly be 15-20 more trucks an hour on the road when there are 45 trips a day. And, Krieg can say we would not even notice? Yeah, I can almost believe we would not notice!
That statement sounds very much like Krieg Construction has no interest in the safety of those he will negatively impact and my guess is, he is interested in “just” making money. I understand he is in business to make money, but as an ethical businessman and member of our North Whidbey Island community, he must also be concerned about the impact of his business on the community and environment. He’s right about one thing, though, we do not want this pit.
Bob Edmons lives in Oak Harbor.
