Preserving Morgan Acres
It’s Morgan Acres, not Morgan lots. This is the motto of residents in the Morgan Acres community, as they band together to regain the one-acre zoning platted by developer Daniel Morgan almost 100 years ago and fight to preserve their rural lifestyle.
“The area is unique for the quality of life it affords – where residents can have horses and large gardens,” said Roy Eickmeyer, of the Morgan Acres Neighborhood Advisory Committee.
Morgan Acres is outside of the city limits, generally north of Francis, east of Crestline, south of Magnesium Road on the west side of Market Street, and south of Freya and Lincoln Road (or the Mount St. Michael’s hill) east of Market.
In November 2001, with the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, the area’s residential areas were reclassified from suburban residential designations, with one housing unit per acre, to low-density residential, or one-to-six housing units per acre, and in some cases to community commercial or light industrial.
“There are no services to allow the use of six lots per acre, and with the lots platted with 100 foot wide frontages, the residents don’t want developers buying up parcels and turning Morgan Acres into just another medium-to-high density cul-de-sac community of homes and apartments like has been done to the west of Crestline,” said Eickmeyer.
For the past two years the advisory committee has been working with the Spokane County Department of Building and Planning to develop the Greater Morgan Acres subarea plan.
If approved most of the current low-density residential zoning would be changed to a new classification “low-density residential plus.” This would go back to a maximum density of one unit per acre for a single family dwelling.
According to Terry Liberty, associate planner for the Spokane County Planning and Building, this is an exception because of the historical nature of the area and that since 1909 the area has always had one-acre lots.
If the Morgan Acre subarea plan is accepted by county commissioners, it becomes part of the Comprehensive Plan and then the zoning code amendment will follow to codify these changes.
A hearing was held in March, and after public testimony and review of supporting documents, the Spokane County Planning Commission forwarded the plan with a few small changes to the county commissioners.
On Tuesday a public meeting will be held to help determine whether or not the plan is accepted.
In addition to the return of one-acre lots, the plan also addresses transportation, pedestrian safety and quality-of-life issues such as parks, code enforcement, crime prevention and communications.
Transportation and traffic are important topics as the state Department of Transportation moves forward with the north-south freeway that will connect Highway 395 at Wandermere to Interstate 90 and bisects the Morgan Acres area.