Land Use Appeals Dominating County Commissioners Agenda In/Around: Halfmoon Prairie, North Division Y, Colbert, Hatch-Midway

North Side land use issues will dominate the county commissioners’ agenda for the next four weeks.

The appeals - three filed by developers and one by area residents - involve a variety of new subdivisions.

Members of the county Planning Commission take turns sitting on the monthly board of hearing examiners. They rule on various land use issues including zone changes, applications to subdivide land and special permits.

Appeals of the rulings are filed with the Spokane County commissioners.

The commissioners’ rulings on land use appeals are final, unless a lawsuit is filed in Spokane County Superior Court.

On Tuesday, the commissioners will hear developer Buster Heitman explain why he should not be charged impact fees for a 139-home subdivision in Colbert.

Heitman received preliminary approval for his Winfield Park subdivision three years ago. Like most subdivisions, all the work was not completed in the three-year period and Heitman filed for an extension in August.

Since Winfield Park originally was approved, Mead Schools and the county Parks Department have begun collecting impact fees for every new house. Mead asks for $700 per lot and the Parks Department asks for $500.

Both agencies have been agreeing to amounts lower than what they ask for originally.

The hearing examiners, at the suggestion of county planners, imposed impact fees on Heitman’s development.

Heitman and his lawyer, Stan Schultz, argue that the county doesn’t have the authority to impose impact fees, which are supposed to be voluntary according to state laws.

And even if it did, the reason the preliminary approval expired was because the county messed up, Schultz wrote on the appeal papers.

County engineers violated the law when they took longer than 30 days to process a roadway and drainage plan, Schultz said.

Almost everyone currently living on Half Moon Prairie, an agricultural community below Wild Rose Prairie, is objecting to the development of the Panorama Acres subdivision.

The commissioners will hold a hearing on the subdivision Jan. 17.

A group of investors called the Halfmoon Ranch Corp. convinced the hearing examiners to change the zoning from agricultural to semirural. They want to build 42 homes in the area.

The subdivision would increase the population on Half Moon Prairie by more than a third.

The zone change violates the comprehensive land use plan, which calls for preserving the land as agricultural. The commissioners rationalized the decision by calling the area a transition zone. Planners wrote that they thought the transition was excessive.

Developer Lanzce Douglass is appealing a hearing examiner decision to trim his subdivision from 39 homes to 35.

The county uses a formula to determine how much “bonus density” each subdivision qualifies for. When developers put in parks and other open spaces, or when they provide features such as security patrols or gates, they are granted bonus density.

Douglass had requested permission for 39 homes. County planners recommended 32. The hearing examiners split the difference and agreed to 35.

Douglass’ subdivision, The Park on Calispel, is just behind Costco, north of Holy Cross Cemetery. The commissioners will hear the arguments Jan. 24.

Douglass’ brother, Harley Douglass, will be before the commissioners Jan. 31.

Harley Douglass opposes the hearing examiners decision to make him participate in a traffic study and pay impact fees if necessary.

Douglass received permission to build 23 houses and four duplexes as the eighth phase of the Gleneden subdivision.

State traffic engineers are worried the new homes, just east of U.S. Highway 395 and south of Wandermere, would overtax the highway. If the study shows that to be the case, Harley Douglass would be required to pay mitigation fees to the state to fund improvements to the road.

Douglass said he did not find out about the state’s request for a traffic study until the day of the hearing and did not have an opportunity respond.