Panelist Had Hoped To Trim Even More

Citizens for Valley Incorporation is lucky the state Boundary Review Board didn’t have more wiggle room when it was tweaking the boundaries of a city the group has proposed in the Spokane Valley.

The proposed city could have turned out being bordered by Park Road, the Spokane River, 32nd Avenue and Sullivan Road.

By law, the review board can change the boundaries of an incorporation proposal as it sees fit, but it cannot alter the total land area of the proposal by more than 10 percent.

But board chairwoman Sally Reynolds would have if she could have.

“I wish we could reduce the area by more than 10 percent,” Reynolds said at a public hearing Wednesday when the board adopted the final boundaries for the proposed city (see map). “But I believe we have done the best that we can do.”

What the board did was cut Otis Orchards completely from the proposal while adding the heavily urbanized residential areas of Orchard Avenue, Midilome and East Spokane to the proposal to make up the difference.

The cutting could have been much deeper. The chairwoman was eyeing stuff east of Sullivan Road for exclusion and was considering granting a request by the city of Spokane to peel the Yardley industrial area from the proposal.

The density question

During past incorporation campaigns, opponents have argued that the municipalities proposed for the Valley didn’t contain enough people per square mile to rate cityhood.

Indeed, under the original boundaries proposed this time around by Citizens for Valley Incorporation, the proposed city would have had a measly average of 1,963 people per square mile.

By comparison, the city of Spokane has more than 3,000 people per square mile, Federal Way more than 3,500.

But the density argument is a little thinner now, thanks to the Boundary Review Board. With the new alignment set forth by the board, the average number of people per square mile for the proposed city of Spokane Valley is 2,444.

That makes the mythical Spokane Valley “denser” than the Washington cities of Kennewick, Bellingham and Everett, and just less dense than Vancouver.

Citizens for Valley Incorporation co-chairman Joe McKinnon said that’s good news.

“That actually strengthens our position,” he said. “They can’t argue that we don’t have the density necessary to provide efficient services now.”

The theory is the more people per square mile, the cheaper to install sewer lines, build roads, etc.

More BRB favors

Boundary Review Board planner Susan Winchell said she fielded nearly a dozen calls Thursday from people in Otis Orchards.

All of them wanted to thank the board for cutting the mostly undeveloped community from the proposed boundaries, Winchell said.

She didn’t mention getting any calls from upset Otis Orchard residents. But rest assured, there are plenty of them out there, including Dale McLeod, a retired state trooper who described himself as “bummed out” when his neighborhood got the ax.

New numbers

A BRB report issued early last month contained an amount the proposed city stands to receive in property taxes.

That number - nearly $9.4 million - was only an estimate.

The final number is out, and it’s not good news for city backers.

Officials in the county assessor’s office, who have been working to finalize assessments during the past six weeks or so, now say that number will be closer to $6.5 million, which will mean a nearly $3 million hit to the proposed city’s coffers.

Fast track

What a lot of people may not realize is that a successful May election could mean city council meetings in November - OF THIS YEAR.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the foremothers and fathers of the city of Spokane Valley could be gathering in a makeshift city hall before Thanksgiving to begin setting policy for the fledgling municipality.

Of course a few things have to fall into place first.

First, the Boundary Review Board must file its final decision on the proposed city’s borders by Friday.

If that happens, the incorporation election could be held May 16.

Of course, then it has to pass.

If it does, primary elections to choose candidates for city council positions could be held in September, and the first city council members then could be chosen during the November general election.