Subdivision moving forward after change in PUD rules

A subdivision proposed in Greenacres is headed back to the hearing examiner after the Spokane Valley City Council changed the rule that halted it once before. The move dealt another blow to an effort by neighbors to make the development less dense.

“I’m tired of getting up in front of the microphone,” said Tom Tabbert, who lives across from the proposed planned unit development and has testified that it will make streets in the area unsafe.

Originally the hearing examiner approved a rezone for the small development near Fourth Avenue and South Barker Road but denied its PUD status because of a rule that PUDs must connect to larger arterial roads.

Both neighbors and developer Dennis Crapo appealed the decision to the City Council, with residents seeking fewer homes per acre and the builder’s lawyer saying the arterial-connection rule was unnecessary and that the PUD status should be approved.

The proposal would divide 4.6 acres into 21 lots for houses.

A PUD classification grants an exception to density limits and other rules in a lot’s zoning in return for open space and other requirements. PUDs are intended to allow for nontraditional housing design or extra density to avoid environmentally sensitive areas. But city planners have said PUDs have never been used in the city for anything other than putting more detached, single-family houses on a smaller space.

The City Council, acting on the recommendations of the Planning Commission, changed the PUD rules at its meeting two weeks ago to strike out the arterial connection requirement.

Mayor Diana Wilhite said the rule was unreasonable because many of the undeveloped lots in Spokane Valley are bordered only by residential streets. Filling in existing parcels is required under the state’s Growth Management Act, she said.

The council unanimously approved the rule change and voted 6 to 1 last week to prepare to send the PUD appeal back to the hearing examiner for reconsideration under the new rules that would likely permit the development.

Councilman Rich Munson voted against the measure, saying that it would appear unfair. The developer could reapply for the PUD under the new rules, rather than have the hearing examiner re-evaluate the project under rules that had changed, he said.