Ideas Inscribed For Better County
Be they dreamers, visionaries or closet graffiti artists, Spokane County residents will have a chance to express their ideas for a better county when the “vision wall” goes on tour this summer.
The red paper brick wall was unveiled Wednesday, the next step in developing the county’s comprehensive plan. A clutch of county officials and employees gathered in the Public Works Building. They took turns wielding a black marker, writing their hopes on the wall.
“No one is more impacted by the decisions we make for the future than our children,” said Planning Commissioner Mike Schrader during the morning program.
He handed a marker to Tyffany Robinson, a Greenacres Junior High School eighth-grader, to write the first vision.
“I invision a Spokane where there is low crime, housing for the homeless and high-paying jobs,” she said, reading as she wrote.
Then Schrader added his vision: “A balanced community providing economic opportunity and environmental protection.”
County Commissioner John Roskelley was next with the marker: “A community that works together.”
The wall will travel throughout the county, stopping at schools, parks, shopping centers, libraries, maybe movie theaters. In the meantime, four work groups will concentrate on drafting policies based in part on the visions.
Groups focusing on rural and urban growth, parks and economic development will begin meeting next week at the Spokane Public Library. Each group will be headed by two planning commissioners.
Their policies will eventually be worked into the county’s 20-year comprehensive plan. The plan is used as a guideline to decide if proposed developments are allowed in different parts of the county.
Throughout the county’s afternoon and evening open house, other thoughts were added to the wall:
“Cluster housing.”
“Quality of life.”
“Benefit all, not just developers.”
“A community that values and nurtures the arts.”
The last comment was added by Jennifer Otterstrom, who works with the Spokane Symphony.
“I think the wall is a wonderful idea because it allows everyone to participate.”
Public participation in the city and county planning process is mandated by the state’s Growth Management Act.
The vision wall is part of Blueprints 2000, one of several projects charting the community’s future. Other groups include the city’s Spokane Horizons, as well as New Century and Focus 21 for economic development.
Once the work groups craft the visions into policies, a series of public meetings will be held by the planning commission in the fall. The completed plan is scheduled to come before the county commissioners next spring.
Here is a list of meeting group topics, and the time and date of the first meeting for each group. All groups meet in the downtown library, first floor:
Group A (urban land use, transportation, housing) - Thursday, May 15; 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Group B (rural land use, natural environment, cultural resources) - Monday, May 12; 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Group C (capital facilities, utilities, parks and open space) - Monday, May 12; 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Group D (economic development) - Thursday, May 15; 4:30-6:30 p.m.
More information on county growth and development is available on the county’s long-range planning Web site: http/www.spokanecounty.org/building/lr.htm.
, DataTimes