County To Consider Key Environment Rules

Spokane County commissioners will consider tonight one of the most important and contentious pieces of environmental legislation ever.

On the table is the “critical areas” ordinance - a law designating and protecting wetlands, rivers, fish and wildlife and steep slopes.

The 1990 Growth Management Act requires Washington cities and counties to protect those areas from development.

A committee of two dozen citizens worked on the plan for more than three years. The county Planning Commission tightened some of its proposed regulations and approved the plan Nov. 6.

Among the recommendations: 250-foot-wide buffers around large rivers and creeks, such as the Little Spokane and Latah.

The Spokane Home Builders Association, backed by Washington, D.C., lobbyists, is fighting the plan as too restrictive.

So is Cathy Ramm, a private Spokane land-use planner who served on the citizens panel. “It’s excessive,” she said. “It will be very cumbersome for anyone to use. The environmentalists lobbied heavily to get excessive buffers in.”

Ramm said the ordinance goes beyond protecting endangered and threatened wildlife, including abundant species, such as white-tailed deer.

A Spokane environmentalist who goes by the legal name “Easy” said the proposed ordinance is a good starting point but doesn’t go far enough.

Supporters of the plan include the state departments of ecology and fish and wildlife.

“It’s one of the most important pieces of legislation to come before us,” said County Commissioner John Roskelley, who voted for it as a planning commission member.

“This will protect our water for the next 100 years,” he said.

While Roskelley is expected to approve the ordinance, it could face opposition from Republican commissioners Steve Hasson and Phil Harris. The board can approve all of part of the plan or schedule a public hearing to take more testimony.

Testimony will not be taken tonight.

, DataTimes