Spokane is in a crucial development stage. As local environmental advocate Kitty Klitzke pointed out, “our county's Urban Growth Area (UGA) already covers over 89 square miles, this is over 2.5 times larger than the City of Paris, France. And Paris we ain't. Their population, at 2.2 million is almost 5 times the population of Spokane County.”

All the more reason to focus growth inward. To DTE, Spokane is a city of possibilities, a strained infrastructure due to unsustainable sprawl. In the last decade, 25 percent of county growth has occurred in rural spaces while enough land already existed in the urban growth area to accommodate their projections. So Spokane County and the Metro Cities of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Airway Heights, and Millwood are taking steps to evaluate the Metro Urban Growth Area and its ability to continue to accommodate projected population. Tonight, the steering committee for Spokane County and the Metro Cities will host the last of three open houses to seek public input on urban growth and where to go for the next twenty years, 6:30pm-8:00pm at Windsor Elementary School, 5504 W. Hallett Road, in the Community Room.

Important notes from the County:

• Spokane County is expected to grow by more than 150,000 people between now and 2031.

• Over 100,000 of this increase is projected to be in the Metro Cities and the unincorporated Metro Urban Growth Area.

• In 2001, an Urban Growth Area was designated to accommodate the urban growth projected until 2021.

• Every ten years, State law requires Spokane County to take another look at its designated Urban Growth Area and that is the process now underway.

We hope to see you there tonight at this pivotal moment for Spokane's future.

 

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