Like police, Spokane Valley firefighters are targeting false alarms that can jeopardize public safety – but they favor a kinder, gentler approach. The Spokane Valley Fire Department is working on an ordinance for presentation to its commissioners and the Spokane Valley City Council, possibly this summer.
Spokane Valley officials properly required a developer to set aside land for future government use without even a down payment, city Hearing Examiner Michael Dempsey has ruled. Developer Robert “Buster” Heitman this week appealed the Jan. 15 decision to Superior Court, but his attorney is optimistic the dispute will be settled with a sale.
An explosion that destroyed a duplex was by far the Spokane Valley Fire Department’s biggest call among 215 in the reporting period that ended Wednesday night. One half of the duplex, at 920 S. Dickey Road, was blown and burned away and the other half apparently was damaged beyond repair.
A 555-unit West Plains housing development may proceed despite the Cheney School District’s protest that it lacks money to educate the children who will live there. Spokane County Hearing Examiner Michael Dempsey said in a Jan. 30 ruling that the school district failed to provide enough information to support its request for “mitigation fees” from owners and developers of the proposed Aspen Park subdivision.
An enthusiastic crowd of Spokane Valley residents vowed Monday to do what they could to disincorporate their 5-year-old city. “I think we had 132 sign in,” meeting organizer Sally Jackson said.
Spokane Valley’s campaign to build a new City Hall at the University City Shopping Center stumbled Tuesday. With three members absent and the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce sounding alarm bells, the deadlocked City Council tabled action on a $377,000 architectural payment.
Spokane Valley has run out of ammunition in its battle to force Spokane County to hand over an abandoned railroad right of way without strings. The Washington Supreme Court has refused to hear the city’s appeal of two lower court rulings that say the county may do as it pleases with the part of the right of way it hasn’t already given the city.
Many guys might not blame Spokane Valley firefighters if they were disappointed to find a trash-bin fire when they rushed to an East Indiana Avenue address Wednesday night. The bin was outside the Hooters Restaurant. “They didn’t get to go in,” Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford said.
No one was injured Thursday evening when an explosion blew the garage out from under a Spokane Valley duplex and torched the unit with 30-foot flames – not even the man who accidentally triggered the explosion. “The windows blew plumb out to the street,” said Mike Mallory, who was in the middle of a blast that shook houses for blocks around the duplex at East 10th Avenue and South Dickey Road. “Everything in the house disintegrated.”
No one was injured Thursday evening when an explosion blew the garage out from under a Spokane Valley duplex and torched the unit with 30-foot flames – not even the man who accidentally triggered the explosion.
Civic activist Sally Jackson has scheduled a meeting Monday to see whether there’s enough support for a third drive to disincorporate Spokane Valley. “My guess is there will be,” Jackson said.
Spokane Valley property owners should be prohibited from building on land the city wants for future streets, the City Council said Tuesday. Council members expressed concern about reducing property values and tying up land without paying for it, but ultimately decided the city’s need for more cross streets justifies that provision of the proposed Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan.
The Spokane Valley Fire Department honored its heroes and helpers Saturday, including three people who rescued two toddlers from a fire. Other recipients included a deputy fire marshal and a sheriff’s deputy who kept some 30 people safe during last summer’s Valley View wildfire, and an off-duty Airway Heights firefighter-paramedic who tried to resuscitate a baby at a Trent Elementary School soccer match.
Spokane Valley city officials plan to start construction this summer on a playground that promises sensory delights for everyone. Discovery Playground, conceived as a “children’s universal playground,” won’t be limited to children. Parks Director Mike Stone is confident adults will enjoy it, too.
Spokane Valley will go ahead with a study of its contract for Spokane County District Court services even though the action may reduce the number of judges available to the city. Irritated by another unwelcome surprise from county commissioners, City Council members rejected a plea from a delegation of District Court judges who are caught between the jostling governments.
Spokane Taiko, a traditional Japanese drumming group, had more members than drums when it was formed in 1997. Some of the two-dozen members had to practice on old tires. “We didn’t have enough drums to practice, but the enthusiasm was so high,” said Atsumi McCauley, who co-founded the group with Michiko Takaoka, the now-retired director of the Japanese Culture Center at the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute.
Stagnant air accounted for most of the fire calls last week in the Spokane Valley. The Spokane Valley Fire Department didn’t have a single actual fire among seven reports of structure fires, four of which were caused by sightings of ordinary chimney smoke trapped by a layer of cold air and fog.
Construction is expected to begin this summer on a 50-unit retirement center in Spokane Valley as the result of $4.2 million federal grant. The $9.3 million project on two acres near the southeast corner of Appleway Boulevard and Farr Road will be another of the Rockwood Retirement Communities that Spokane United Methodist Homes has operated in metropolitan Spokane since 1960.
Construction is expected to begin this summer on a 50-unit retirement center in Spokane Valley as the result of $4.2 million federal grant. The $9.3 million project on two acres near the southeast corner of Appleway Boulevard and Farr Road will be another of the Rockwood Retirement Communities that Spokane United Methodist Homes has operated in metropolitan Spokane since 1960.
A new Spokane Valley playground will use uneven terrain to create a level playing field for people with disabilities, the City Council was told Tuesday. “I think this is a wonderful design,” Councilwoman Rose Dempsey said when consultants explained how people on rollerblades, tricycles and wheelchairs all can appreciate the undulating “Wavy Walk” as they make their way to the Big Horn Sheep Challenge.
In nearly opposite rulings, two judges have concluded that Spokane Valley’s Ponderosa area must have a third fire exit before additional houses are built, and that there is no basis for such a requirement. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor said in an order filed last week that sponsors of a proposed subdivision failed their duty to provide adequate exit roads in case there’s a wildfire or some other emergency.
What a difference a week can make. As temperatures rose in the past week, calls to the Spokane Valley Fire Department fell by more than one-third. The department logged only 175 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday night, compared with 265 in the previous week.
Court service may be the next saber to clash in Spokane Valley’s contract disputes with Spokane County. The City Council agreed Tuesday to vote Jan. 27 on whether to give the county a cancellation notice on the city’s contract for Spokane County District Court services.
Warmer weather and free skate rentals filled the Riverfront Park Ice Palace with skaters Saturday. “It’s our first time out skating for the year,” Tammie Dutton said as she and her husband, Jim, watched their two children skate.
