Apartment Project Proposed

A developer wants to build 42 apartments just east of the Indian Canyon Golf Course driving range, near a controversial apartment project the city approved last year.

Ronald McCloskey appeared Tuesday before the city hearing examiner and asked for a special-use permit to allow the 42 units in three separate buildings.

Last October, the Spokane City Council approved a 48-unit apartment complex by McCloskey despite neighbors’ objection to the hearing examiner’s approval of that project.

At the time, residents said they were concerned about mounting traffic on Westcliff Place, the access street for the apartments and nearby single-family homes.

On Tuesday, several residents showed up at the hearing and reiterated their concerns about the potential for traffic congestion, as well as concerns about where stormwater runoff from the project would go.

Hearing Examiner Greg Smith said he would make a decision in about two weeks.

The city’s comprehensive plan calls for low-density residential uses at the site, but the property is zoned for multifamily dwellings.

Under the current zoning, McCloskey must obtain a special permit to build apartment houses.

The project would include seven garage buildings with 44 covered spaces, plus another 37 outdoor parking slots. The site is 102,000 square feet, or a little more than two acres.

Residents at the hearing said they are concerned that spillover from the apartment projects would lead to heavy parking on Westcliff Place.

In 1970 the property was zoned and given a special permit for multifamily dwellings to make way for a 17-acre project that was never built.

, DataTimes