City Council Approves Indian Trail Land-Use Plan Still Time To Refine Plan, Says Mayor Jack Geraghty

A land-use plan that could swell the population of north Spokane’s newest neighborhood by more than 6,000 people was adopted Monday.

After more than three years of study and multiple revisions, the Indian Trail Neighborhood Specific Plan gained the City Council’s unanimous approval.

“This has been a long and tedious - and sometimes contentious - process,” said Mayor Jack Geraghty. “There is still an opportunity to refine certain elements of this plan.”

“It’s a far cry from perfect, but it’s better than what we had,” said Councilman Orville Barnes.

The neighborhood north of Francis Avenue along Indian Trail Road has some 600 vacant acres still open for development - with another 1,700 acres just beyond the city limits.

With new single-family housing, scenic bluffs and the nearby Little Spokane River, the area is considered one of the city’s most desirable, especially for young families.

But because residents are locked into using Indian Trail Road and Francis Avenue, new development has been scrutinized for its traffic impact on a few intersections, which violate federal clean-air guidelines.

For that reason, residents wanted the city to link new plats with the construction of another east-west arterial.

One proposal would extend Barnes Road, connecting Nine Mile Road with Indian Trail Road. New projects would have been stopped, too, until Indian Trail Road was widened.

The linkage was in earlier versions of the land-use plan. But the city plan commission eased the language after a legal challenge by developer Harlan Douglass, who wants to build apartments in the area.

Under the plan adopted Monday night, the city may charge developers for future road projects, but new projects can move forward whether or not construction occurs.

In addition to allowing more housing units - up to 3,700 would be allowed under the plan - the new zoning focuses community facilities around Pacific Park, allows residents to tax themselves for open space, forbids the construction of gates on new subdivisions, and allows for the transfer of development rights in order to preserve bluffs and steep slopes.

Still, some Indian Trail residents argued that unless the plan requires roads and public services before development occurs, the city would be better off with no plan at all.

“This plan is flawed, fatally so,” said Sharon Page, president of an Indian Trail group backing responsible development. “This plan has had whatever teeth it had extracted.”

, DataTimes