Mike Prager

A West Side developer who owns property near The Fairways Golf Course is trying to subdivide nearly 10 acres of land for about 30 new homes. The Spokane County hearing examiner has scheduled a public hearing on the preliminary plat application for July 16 at 1:30 p.m. in the commissioners assembly room at the Public Works Building. The subdivision is being called West Terrace Heights First Addition.

The Spokane County hearing examiner last week approved a new 41-home subdivision on a 10-acre parcel on 53rd Avenue near Crestline. The developers want to cluster the homes on lots of about 6,000 square feet in what the county calls a planned unit development. It will be called Redhawk. More than an acre of the development will be devoted to landscaping and grassy depressions for storm runoff.

The city's long-awaited plan to build an alternate route around the congestion at 29th and Regal is moving closer to construction. City engineers are drawing plans to extend Southeast Boulevard from its current dead end at 31st Avenue to Regal Street. The new route would curve in a southeast direction from behind the Lincoln Heights Home Center to connect with Regal at 34th Avenue.

City parks officials are hoping the fifth time is a charm in their efforts to win state funding for Ben Burr Park. On Monday, the City Council approved a resolution to seek a $300,000 grant from the state Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation. The city has applied for the grant in each of the past four years but has been turned down. The park would provide a needed play area for the fast-growing area of Southeast Spokane.

Spokane County commissioners on Tuesday postponed for two weeks a decision on a zone change to allow an apartment complex on Regal Street south of 57th Avenue. They had planned to rule on the zone change Tuesday but put off a vote until July 8 on a motion from Commissioner Kate McCaslin. McCaslin did not give a reason for the postponement.

Transportation Spokane County will widen nearly two miles of 57th Avenue next year, adding sidewalks, a bicycle path, and left-turn lane in the middle of the thoroughfare. But the project will connect with the city-owned stretch of 57th, which will remain unimproved for the foreseeable future. "We are not a seamless government," County Engineer Bill Johns said during last week's county commissioner's meeting.

Transportation Business owners along Grand Boulevard have dodged a financial pothole now that the city has agreed to speed up the paving schedule for the busy arterial. Summer construction on Grand will last 30 days instead of the 10 weeks the city initially planned.

City Council The Spokane City Council on Monday approved property tax assessments for 271 parcels in a large sewer project on Moran Prairie. Construction was completed last fall on the sewers, worth $2.5 million, and street paving south of 57th Avenue near Helena. The council-approved assessments will average $3,350 per parcel.

1. Steve Franks, Lori Nicol Bingham and David Shockley, founders of the Spokane Preservation Advocates, want to reclaim the basalt ruins of the old Liberty Park. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Exuberance - and water - spilled over when youngsters cooled off in the old Liberty Park wading pool. Photo courtesy Spokane Parks & Recreation Department 3. The arbored terrace at the old Liberty Park presented a distinctive outline on the horizon in the early part of the century. Photo courtesy Spokane Parks & Recreation Department

Members of the public are invited to a meeting tonight on flood prevention along Latah Creek in south Spokane. The state Department of Ecology is coordinating a stream management plan with other public agencies and residents.

The city hearing examiner has approved a 100-foot cellular telephone antenna in the west end of downtown. The new tower is being proposed by Spokane Cellular Telephone Co. and AT&T; Wireless Services. It will provide wireless communication coverage to the Latah Creek Valley and U.S. Highway 195 that runs south along it.

A Spokane County judge has overturned a controversial annexation on Glenrose Prairie just below Browne Mountain. The decision could derail plans by developers to turn about 100 acres of the semirural prairie into home sites. Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza on Monday granted a request for summary judgment brought by opponents of the annexation.

1. John Wilson, owner of Mail Boxes Etc. on Grand Boulevard, explains to customer Tony Pastino that a repaving project will force detours this summer. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Drive-up customers will have to do the road block shuffle. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Homeowners living near 57th and Regal are fighting a proposed apartment project about a block from Mullan Road Elementary School. It is the latest skirmish in an escalating fight over growth and development on Moran Prairie. On Tuesday, opponents told Spokane County commissioners the apartment project would clash with the surrounding neighborhood of mostly single-family homes.

More than 100 people living in the Glenrose, Moran Prairie and Central Park areas turned out last week for the first public meeting on storm runoff solutions. Brenda Sims, county stormwater utility manager, said comments gathered at the meeting will be considered in a regional stormwater management plan now being developed. A draft proposal is due later this year.

Pedestrian safety is getting a boost in Lincoln Heights with construction of new sidewalks on streets that previously had none, or just piecemeal walkways. The sidewalks and wheelchair ramps are being installed along Ray Street, 27th Avenue and Mount Vernon Street. Money for the $96,000 project is coming largely from a state grant program to increase pedestrian safety. The grant is paying for 80 percent of the cost.

Nurseryman Alan Tower carries more than 700 varieties of hosta, the most popular perennial in the country. How do gardeners decide which ones to plant? Tower, a director in the American Hosta Society, has compiled a list of top choices based on his tastes and the society's annual ratings. Included is the cost of each plant.

The cities of Cheney and Medical Lake are asking Spokane County for help in financing park improvements that will benefit non-city residents. In Cheney, nearly half of the 13,000 registrations for recreation programs are made by non-city residents. About three-fourths of the people who use Waterfront Park in Medical Lake don't live there.

Spokane city officials are moving ahead with plans to resurface Grand Boulevard this summer, even though they don't have money to pay for it. The city is hoping for an increase in the county's gasoline tax or a surcharge on vehicle licenses to raise the money.

Ray Cox and Marguerite Miller are residents at Moran Vista, a new assisted living center at 3319 E. 57th. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

1. Alan Tower keeps in touch with workers at his new nursery as he walks through his home garden where hostas and perennials create a calming oasis of green. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Water glistens on hosta Great Expectations. 3. Alan Tower oversees work at his new nursery at Jamieson Road and the Palouse Highway. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Lewis and Clark High School seniors Chad Clement, on chin-up bar, and Shawna Sankari, getting a boost from a classmate, have signed up for military service rather than college. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane City Council isn't going to eliminate Stone Street south of 29th Avenue until an alternative route is found to handle neighborhood traffic. Dr. John Sonneland is asking the council to vacate Stone where it passes through property he owns at Quail Run office park. Sonneland wants to eliminate Stone Street so he has more room to develop a site along 29th Avenue for a restaurant. He could incorporate the restaurant and parking into the Quail Run office park, which has been under development for the past six years.

The South Hill Senior Center may have 1,200 members, but a consultant said not enough people in Spokane know it exists. If members of the senior center hope to raise money for a new $1.8 million facility, they've got to increase their visibility to attract donors, said Adams & Associates of Spokane. As a result, the senior center and its members are embarking on what they call a pre-campaign to call attention to the services and benefits of its facility.