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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

City adding workers to handle development crush

With construction in the Spokane Valley holding at a steady pace and the city’s planners immersed in several long-range projects, the City Council voted Tuesday night to add the equivalent of five new positions to departments that handle development.

The estimated $200,000 addition to a biannual budget amendment was no small move, given that the city employs a staff of fewer than 100 people.

“We’ve been budgeting very conservatively in the last several years,” said Deputy Mayor Steve Taylor.

Development has flourished in Spokane Valley, but the council has been leery of adding staff proportionate to the number of building permits coming in because of the cyclical nature of construction.

“We really hit a point where we thought this was going to continue,” said Councilman Dick Denenny.

The four council members present at the meeting voted unanimously on the budget amendment, which provides for two new assistant planners, the equivalent of two positions related to development engineering and an additional building inspector.

Previously, there were seven positions in the city’s planning division, about 15 in the building division and ten in public works.

Developers and others in the construction business have complained about turnaround times for permits and delays that have grown longer recently as the city’s planning expertise is split between ongoing development and outlining the city’s future.

For the last year, an urban design firm and city planners have been forming a plan to extensively redevelop the area surrounding Sprague Avenue.

The Planning Commission and city staff have been in the process of entirely rewriting Spokane Valley’s development regulations and shoreline master program.

The city’s first round of comprehensive-plan amendments are under way, and planners also are working with the county on its update of urban growth boundaries.

Development engineers currently handle 50 to 60 projects at a given time, compared with 15 to 20 in other cities, Deputy City Manager Nina Regor told the council last week.

Planners have between 60 and 85 files to manage, compared with an average load of 20 to 30, Regor said.

Each working day, building inspectors go out on 15 to 22 inspections, compared with 10 or 12 in other cities.

The caseload of building inspectors is among the things insurance companies look at when setting rates.

Adding staff and taking a closer look at how different projects move through the process should reduce wait times and make the system more efficient, she said.