Planning commission recommends rejection of Indian Trail apartment project

Spokane’s planning commission has recommended against a rezone that would allow developer Harley Douglass to build hundreds of apartments in the Indian Trail Neighborhood, but the final say rests with the City Council.

In a 4-3 vote, the planning commission identified several problems with the rezone request for about 50 acres of land just north of Barnes Road and west of Indian Trail Road. The land is currently zoned single-family residential, which would allow up to 286 homes. Douglass’ request for higher density zoning would allow 1,500 apartments, though Douglass has said he would only request 750 units.

The majority of the planning commission said that the rezone request violated the Growth Management Act, was not consistent with development regulations and does not comply with the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Their written decision said the site is not suitable for the proposed designation.

Several community meetings have been held and upset neighbors turned out in force to complain about already congested traffic on Indian Trail, which is the only road into the neighborhood. They feared that cars from an apartment complex would overload the road.

Those concerns were heard by the planning commission, said commission president Dennis Dellwo.

“One of the big things was the infrastructure, the fact that it would cause a tremendous burden on the community,” said Dellwo, who voted as part of the majority.

Dellwo said allowing high density housing would conflict with the single-family design of the neighborhood.

“The proponents of this will hopefully sit down and think about how they can work with the neighborhood and the planners and address some of the concerns,” he said.

North Indian Trail Neighborhood Council chairman Terry Deno said he’s pleased that the planning commission heard the neighborhood’s concerns.

Deno said the neighborhood council will now press its case with the City Council.

He added that he knows there’s no guarantee the council will agree with the planning commission, but said his group is prepared to appeal if the vote doesn’t go their way.

“It’s been a horrible, horrible process,” he said. “We’re going on 10 months. It’s a long, long time to be zigging and zagging.”

Spokane City Council president Ben Stuckart said the council should vote on whether to accept the planning commission’s recommendation sometime in the next month.