City Approves Paving, Curbing Plans In/Around: Hillyard, Northeast

Diminishing dust comes at a cost, and some Hillyard residents soon will be paying it.

The Spokane City Council earlier this week unanimously approved plans for a paving, curbing and sidewalk project that involves 115 pieces of property and more than 10 city blocks.

Streets to be paved include Princeton from Freya to Florida, Longfellow from Freya to Florida, and Rich from Freya to Havana.

The council pushed aside a recommendation from the city’s hearing examiner that sidewalks be eliminated from the $1 million project to help reduce costs.

“Doing it right the first time is what’s really here before us,” said Councilman Chris Anderson.

Although several residents told the hearing examiner they’d favor a project without sidewalks, none of those people repeated their concerns to the council.

In fact, those who testified told the council they wanted - and needed - sidewalks because of heavy traffic in the area.

Joyce Jones, who chairs the Hillyard Steering Committee, said at the group’s first meeting 25 years ago, members talked about paving several of the dusty streets.

“Don’t make it another 20 years before we get sidewalks, too,” Jones said.

City Engineer Brad Blegen told the council he didn’t like leaving out sidewalks, but said he’d be willing to delete them if it kept the project from further delays.

The street lies in the city’s nonattainment area - the portion of Spokane the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says directly contributes to the city’s air quality violations.

Dust from Spokane’s unpaved roads have helped push the city over federal limits for particulates or airborne pollutants.

A $200,000 federal grant designed to improve air quality by reducing dust problems will help defray the project’s costs. Homeowners will pay about $7,200 each.

“This project presents great problems for me,” said resident Dale Lewis, who owns five lots in the improvement area.

Approving the plan makes him “basically an indentured servant to the city of Spokane,” said Lewis, the only resident who spoke against the project.