A list of changes made to the design for next year’s planned widening of Bayview Road got a mixed reaction at a public open house Thursday.

Under pressure from outspoken members of the public who have labeled the project as being too big, too expensive and incompatible with the rural character of the Bayview area, Island County’s engineering department brought drawings of a slimmed-down road plan to the Bayview Senior Center for a flashlight-lit forum during Thursday’s power outage.

Taken out of the project are two feet of road width — which takes the equivalent of 18,000 square feet of asphalt out of the widening plan — curb and gutter planned to be built in front of the Bayview Cash Store and Bayview High School, and several feet of height on a number of planned retaining walls. Other changes include reduced-width drainage structures in some areas to avoid cutting trees and, at the Kramer family farm near Doc Savage Road, the elimination of drainage to spare a century-old stand of fir trees.

Remaining in tact are 6-foot paved shoulders along much of the 1.75-mile work corridor. In some areas, the shoulders will be 5 feet wide, up from the original plan’s 4 feet.

Randy Brackett, the Island County engineer in charge of the project, said the changes should not affect the project’s eligibility for state funding, nor will it make the road design significantly less safe for drivers and pedestrians. The state is paying $1.5 million of the estimated $2.35 million price tag for the widening.

While the changes in the design addressed some of the concerns of a group of Bayview and South Whidbey residents who oppose the project, they didn’t please everyone. Bob Dalton, a Bayview Road resident and South Whidbey contractor, criticized the design for what he felt was an unrealistically low cost estimate, for infringing on wetlands near Doc Savage Road, and for the amount of private property that will need to be taken by Island County for additional rights of way.

“They’re cramming this down our throats,” he said.

There were some additions to the plan to take care of some of the biggest safety risks associated with widening a road. The plan’s engineers plan to ask Island County to reduce the 40 mph speed limit between Grimm Road and Highway 525 to 25 mph. The speed in much of that area is currently reduced to 20 mph during school hours. Road residents have asserted that speeds will rise once the road is widened.

Also, in response to a unique private property issue along the road, the engineers are planning to take no additional property in front of a home owned by Matthew Swett and Sarah Birger. A plan for the road unveiled last November had the pavement laid within four feet of the couple’s front door. The new plan still includes a paved should in front of the house, but places a guard rail and retaining wall at the edge of the property.

At previous meetings regarding the road expansion, the couple has asked Island County to pay to have the home moved elsewhere on their property.

Speaking about some specific dimensions in the new plan, Dan Hansen, an contract engineer with the Everett firm Perteet Engineering, said a retaining wall originally planned to be as high as 10 feet will now vary between 3 and 7 feet. The tallest retaining wall used in the project, to be located near Quigley Road, is planned at 8 feet.

Perteet Engineering did the actual design work for the widening project.

Island County’s Brackett said the engineering department expects to make more small changes as the county begins to acquire rights-of-way for the project, changes that may allow the project to avoid more stands of trees, fences and other structures.

Bids for the project are expect to be let in March with construction possibly starting in summer 2004.