Better to direct, know what to expect in neighborhood’s future
Did you know that if you live in a single-family residential area, your neighbor could build a duplex next door to you under certain conditions outlined in the existing Spokane Valley Comprehensive Plan?
If you live in an area known as the Urban Activity Center a neighbor could, under certain rezoning conditions, build a fourplex or higher density dwelling in your neighborhood?
During the past 21/2 years, this writer has learned a lot about land use and zoning.
Early in my zoning education I learned that duplexes are allowed in all Urban Residential 3.5 housing zones, if the property is at least 20,000 square feet. UR 3.5 zones actually allow for four units per acre under the existing land use plan.
I also learned that in some areas of Spokane Valley UR 3.5 zones can be upzoned to UR-7* simply by applying for the zone change. The UR-7* zone allows for six units per acre, whereas the UR-7 (without the asterisk) allows for seven units per acre.
If that isn’t confusing enough, consider this.
If the land area is large enough and the land is located within the Urban Activity Center, which is the designation covering about one-half square mile in the vicinity of University City, an application for upzoning is seemingly approved automatically by the Hearing Examiner.
How, you may ask, is this possible? It is possible because the Interim Comprehensive Plan for Spokane Valley allows for these kinds of things to legally take place.
The question you may also ask: Will it continue under the new Comprehensive Plan? That depends on the decisions of the City Council members and it largely depends on what you as a citizen of Spokane Valley do. Will you sit back and think que sera, sera (what will be, will be) or will you participate in the dialogue and make suggestions on how you think the city should look in 10 to 20 years?
The Spokane Valley City Council is currently holding public hearings on the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission held its public hearings and deliberated on the Comp Plan for several months. It then made its recommendations to the City Council.
Your elected officials will now listen to more public input, deliberate on all the information before them and decide whether to accept all, some or none of the Planning Commission recommendations. What they decide will lay the foundation for Spokane Valley’s next 20 years.
During these public hearings and the deliberations that follow, council members will be looking at the big picture. As important as the 20-year vision is for Spokane Valley’s future it is even more important how the implementing regulations are written.
As a former presidential candidate was fond of saying, “The devil is in the details.”
The devil is different things to different people. What I like, you may not like and vice versa. Until you know what is in the Comprehensive Plan and what is in the implementing details of that plan you will not know what is there to like or dislike, until you get surprised by a rezone next door that increases the density of land use in your neighborhood.
Let’s examine what someone may consider a “devil in the details.” Under the existing plan, a single family home in a UR 3.5 zone requires 10,000 square feet of land. A duplex in the same zone requires 20,000 square feet. If that UR 3.5 is upzoned to UR-7 then a single family dwelling only requires 6,000 square feet and the duplex only requires 11,000 square feet. Hence, the reason a person would want to make the change – to maximize their return on investment. You cannot blame the developers for taking advantage of what is allowed by law. The lawmakers are the ones to hold accountable.
Now is the time to step forward and let your opinions be known. The Comp Plan can be revisited each year at which time unpopular decisions can be changed. However, a lot of unwanted changes can happen in your neighborhood in the span of 12 months. Just ask a resident of north Greenacres or Ponderosa.