County Will Float Ideas For Handling Storm Water

Spokane County officials are holding the second in a series of public meetings on solving storm-water problems in southeast Spokane.

The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at Chase Middle School.

Brenda Sims, county storm-water utility manager, said the county will unveil recommendations of a Boise consultant and hear public reaction.

The consultant is expected to recommend using a combination of natural drainage ways and wetlands with storm-water pipes and a collection pond.

Montgomery-Watson Americas Inc. is being paid $257,000 for the study.

The watershed encompasses Moran and Glenrose prairies as well as the Central Park area to the east.

Financing for a storm-water system has not been decided but could involve fees levied against property owners in the watershed area.

More than 100 people turned out for the first public meeting in June after southeast Spokane saw repeated flooding during last winter’s storms.

Streets, parking lots, basements and yards were filled with water during a winter that brought higher than normal amounts of rain and snow.

The county last spring put emergency restrictions on developers to prevent the problem from getting worse.

Only lined evaporation ponds may be used to handle on-site storm water, rather than grassy depressions that allow water to seep back into the ground. Also, basements are not allowed under the temporary restrictions.

The restrictions may cause problems for developers of a proposed shopping center at 57th and Regal. That project would have to be designed with evaporation ponds rather than the grassy depressions, county officials said.

The City Council has a recommendation from the city Plan Commission for similar development restrictions but has not yet acted on the recommendation.

At the same time, the city is being asked to approve a large supermarket proposal for land at 44th and Regal, a site that is part of the natural drainage way on Moran Prairie.

The county would lift its storm-water controls once a new system is built, officials said.

, DataTimes