Adam Lynn

1. Kevin Loller of Ferris High School put his egg car within inches of the wall in the Scramble competition. 2. Scientific methods. Joe Lienhard, 12, from Cheney Middle School keeps an eye on his wood tower undergoing a stress test of 44 pounds at the Eastern regionals of the Washington State Science Olympiad at Whitworth College on Saturday morning. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

East Valley High School's controversial reader board isn't too big after all. The Spokane County Board of Adjustment on Wednesday overturned a planning department ruling that said the sign violated a 32-square-foot restriction and therefore could not be erected at the school. The board's action clears the way for the reader board to go up, probably this spring.

Development Another housing development is planned for the fast-growing Northwood area. Tony Heaton has requested approval for a 39-lot subdivision on Francis Road, east of Ella. The development would be built on just more than 21 acres on the hills overlooking Millwood - an area that has seen the construction of several hundred homes in recent years.

The meeting room at North Pines Junior High was filled to standing room only when the Boundary Review Board held a hearing on Valley incorporation. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

A Spokane County planning board will next week consider a proposal to nearly double the size of the facility that houses the Mead alternative high school program. The nearly 150 students and nine teachers in the program currently occupy a 4,500-square-foot building at the Fairwood Shopping Center.

It was an unusual night of high drama and high ideals as Spokane County commissioners took testimony Tuesday on a proposal that would allow singlewide manufactured homes in any residential neighborhood in the unincorporated area. The three-hour debate ran the gamut from property rights to civil rights.

(From Saturday, February 18, 1995 Valley Voice:) Millwood Town Councilman Dan Mork's name was misspelled in a story in Thursday's Valley Voice. 1. Millwood Mayor Jeanne Batson sees a lot of development without enough consideration for local traffic problens. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Traffic on Argonne Road would worsen as housing developments north of Millwood are completed, city officials argue. But the town council may be able to restrict housing growth through their vote on a sewer line extension. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

A personnel upheaval in Spokane County government which began last month continued Tuesday with the resignations of two longtime managers. Parks Director Sam Angove and Human Resources Director Skip Wright told county commissioners they will resign in May.

Taxes will go up for most Spokane County property owners in 1995 despite a lower tax rate. Escalating property values are to blame. County Assessor Charlene Cooney certified the 1995 tax rolls Tuesday.

Irving Reed walked into enemy territory Monday night and did not escape unscathed. The city of Spokane's planning and engineering director and the Spokane City Council were the targets of biting criticism at a hearing before the state Boundary Review Board on a proposal to form a city in the Spokane Valley. Nearly 200 people, most of them incorporation supporters, attended the meeting at North Pines Junior High School in the Valley.

The state Boundary Review Board will hold a public hearing tonight on a proposal to form a city in the Spokane Valley, the third such plan in five years. The meeting begins at 7 in the cafeteria at North Pines Junior High School, N701 Pines.

Spokane County officials are concerned that a proposed city in the Valley will create "islands" of unincorporated areas where it will be difficult to provide sewers. They may ask the state Boundary Review Board to include those areas within the city's boundaries, said Dennis Scott, county public works director.

Spokane County officials are investigating claims from nearly a dozen parks department workers that Director Sam Angove has created a hostile work environment. County commissioners have asked the Human Resources Department to look into the complaints and prepare a report on the matter, said commission chairman Skip Chilberg. Chilberg would not comment on the nature of the allegations other than to say his office was taking them seriously, "or we wouldn't have requested an investigation or report on it."

Central Valley School Board members will meet Monday to mull a solution to the district's overflowing classrooms, including a possible bond issue. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the district offices, E19307 Cataldo. The future of CV's special education program also is on the agenda.

Much to the chagrin of Valley incorporation supporters, the fate of the May 16 election date they have targeted is out of their hands. The state Boundary Review Board and the Spokane City Council now have more control over the timing of the election than they do, frustrated incorporation backers say.

A group of Colbert area residents has lost its fight to keep a proposed housing development from encroaching on some wetland in its community. About a dozen homeowners from the area of Perry and Half Moon roads left last week's hearing examiner committee meeting disappointed after the board rejected their appeal to postpone construction of the 99-acre subdivision. Members of the group wanted the panel to require developer Lowell McKee to further study the impact his project would have on a nine-acre wetland on the northern part of his property.

Two developments proposed for the North Side got mixed reviews Tuesday from Spokane County commissioners. One, a 24-lot subdivision planned for 120 acres on the Half Moon Prairie, went down to defeat. The other, a proposal for 27 lots on 10 acres east of Highway 395 and north of Gleneden Drive, was approved.

The hearing examiner committee also approved two other North Side projects: Golly project: Developer John Golly of Renton, Wash., received permission to subdivide about 70 acres east of the Deer Park Airport into large-acre lots. The committee approved a change in zoning, from general agriculture to semirural residential, to pave the way for the project.

The city of Spokane's desire to snatch the tax-rich Yardley industrial area was the hot topic at Thursday night's public forum on Spokane Valley incorporation. Spokane officials said this week that they are interested in annexing Yardley, an area in the western part of the Valley.

1. "It is strange to have to incorporate to protect your rural lifestyle, but that's the reality of it," says 20-year resident of Otis Orchards Dale McLeod. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. At a Valley incorporation meeting Thursday, two pickup trucks were filled with yard signs ready for planting. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Development A county board approved a plan to expand the Park Place Retirement Community on Thursday despite the objections of a neighbor who said the new buildings would ruin her walks in a nearby natural area. The hearing examiner committee voted 3-0 to allow Park Place owners to construct two more buildings on about 4-1/2 acres adjacent to their Park Road facility. One of the buildings would contain 60 apartments for elderly people who need help in their day-to-day lives. An attendant would be on duty in the building to help residents with things like food preparation, bathing and taking medication. The second structure would house 30 beds for stroke victims, Alzheimer's patients and other people who need round-the-clock care. Park Place spokesman Dee McGonigle said the expansion was needed in the community and would have a negligible impact on the surrounding neighborhood. Traffic shouldn't be a problem, he said. "Our facility is much less intensive than regular multi-family apartments," McGonigle said. "Only one of three or one of four of our seniors own cars." His company currently operates a 117-apartment retirement home in the old Edgecliff sanitarium. No one opposed the project except Wanda Warren, who lives nearby. She said she feared the expansion would have a negative impact on the Dishman Hills Natural Area, which borders Park Place on the east. Warren said she often walks in the hills because she likes the feeling of being in the country. "This is going to spoil that experience," she said. The committee members were not moved by Warren's testimony.

Rep. Mike Padden of the Spokane Valley, a ranking Republican in the state Legislature, plans to apply for a judge position in Spokane County District Court. Padden, who represents the 4th District, said Tuesday he is interested in the position left vacant by the recent death of Judge Raymond Tanksley Jr.

A group of students and teachers from Horizon Junior High School are being forced to postpone a trip to Japan because of the devastating earthquake that struck there this week. Five students and three teachers were scheduled to travel to Japan for two weeks in April to visit Horizon's sister school in Nishinomiya, said Roger Rada, director of mid-level education for the Central Valley School District. District officials have decided to postpone the trip until summer because of the widespread destruction in and around the city of 430,000, Rada said.

A six-year fight for peace and quiet in the Spokane Valley was renewed this week in the Washington state Senate. Three Republican senators, including Bob McCaslin of the Valley, introduced legislation that would enable counties to restrict train whistles at certain railroad crossings. Some local officials and Spokane Valley business owners said they support the bill, which is sponsored by McCaslin and cosponsors Brad Owen of Shelton and Eugene Prince of Thornton.