Peter Barnes

A Spokane Valley ordinance that regulates signs – from the flashing lights on Sprague Avenue to the inflatable gorillas that pop up at car lots – was changed Tuesday night, allowing businesses to build bigger signs in certain areas and put them closer together. The ordinance allows signs that cover up to 25 percent of an exterior wall instead of the former 250-square-foot maximum – 10 feet by 25 feet, for instance – in some areas. It also reduces the amount of space required between signs on a single property from 500 feet to 300 feet.

SPIRIT LAKE, IDAHO – Gathered in a councilman's lakeside cabin, the Spokane Valley City Council and heads of city departments talked their way through a long list of city goals and budget challenges for next year at the council's summer retreat Saturday. Among the council's objectives for 2006 are establishing the foundation of a street master plan and turning the area of Sprague Avenue and Appleway, known as Auto Row, into a cohesive business area.

Barbecue – check. Lawn chairs – check.

Following a series of legal and political discussions going back into January, the Spokane Valley City Council has scheduled a public hearing and vote on whether the city should enact initiative and referendum rights for Valley residents. At the request of Councilman Steve Taylor, a separate resolution to authorize only referendums also will be put to a vote at the council's June 28 meeting.

Mike DeVleming, a Spokane Valley City Council member and former mayor, announced he will run for office again. "It was obviously a lot of thought, a lot of discussion with my family, and a lot of discussion with my work," he said. "It just boils down to 'the job's not done.' "

After a push to collect more fines from people who don't license their pets failed to significantly offset the cost of the area's animal control program, the city of Spokane Valley plans to review and possibly modify its contract with Spokane County for animal control services. "Were getting a very good service, and we're paying a whole lot of money for it," Councilman Mike DeVleming said Tuesday at a joint meeting of the City Council and the Spokane County commission Tuesday.

Covered in sweat and dirt and a little dehydrated, Natasha Wagner celebrated the finish of her first mountain bike race ever – all 24 hours of it. "It was just a challenge I guess," she said.

After more than three years of work by local history enthusiasts, the refurbished head gate of the Corbin Ditch made its official debut last week in Post Falls. "Water is the story of the Valley," said Jayne Singleton, director of the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum. "D.C. Corbin stood right here and said 'let it flow,' and it went right into Otis Orchards."

Spokane Valley and Spokane County could swap hiking for softball this summer under an exploratory program that allows the city access to Camp Caro in return for use of city ball fields by the county's growing softball program. Since the city incorporated in 2003, the county has used some of the city's fields for games, repaying the city by maintaining them for free. The city recently began hiring a private company for park maintenance, so the City Council approved a pilot cooperative-use program last week that gives the city access to Camp Caro and possibly other facilities as compensation for use of the fields. Otherwise the games would cost the county $25 for the first hour and $15 for each hour after that.

A proposed ordinance to require helmet use for Spokane Valley bicyclists moved forward Tuesday night despite hesitation from three City Council members and opposition from the parents of a recent accident victim. "I don't believe that an ordinance is necessary," said Staci Schlerf, whose 15-year-old daughter, Samantha, died May 12 after a car-bicycle accident the day before.

Maybe the thief just wanted to pay off a library fine. A sealed envelope holding $178.85 in checks reported stolen from a Friends of the Valley Library used book sale nearly a month ago mysteriously showed up in the library's outdoor book return on Friday.

After a rousing debate over how hard it should push Spokane County this year for more information on what it would cost the city to take over the sewer system, the Spokane Valley City Council outlined several broad goals for 2006, which include a street master plan and a revitalization of the Sprague Avenue corridor. Each year, city staff asks the council to list goals it should keep in mind when drafting the next year's budget. The council will define those items further at its retreat in June.

The city of Spokane Valley hopes to hire an additional person as early as this week to help the city enforce nuisance ordinances that prohibit junk cars, garbage-covered lawns and other eyesores that elicit complaints from frustrated neighbors. The position has gone unfilled since January, leaving only one city employee to check into the complaints that grow in number as the weather improves.

All seven Spokane Valley City Council seats will be up for grabs in the November elections. The four candidates with the most votes will receive four-year terms. The remaining three will receive two-year terms in order to make the coming election the last in which all council members are up for election at the same time.

Two fatal bicycle accidents in Spokane Valley this week could give weight to the argument of those who say that bicycling and similar activities should be illegal without a helmet. "The helmets are essential, because we know the head injuries are the most devastating," said Ana Matthews, of the Spokane Regional Health District. She said that when properly worn, an approved helmet can reduce by 88 percent the risk of brain injury – the type of injury the Spokane Valley Police Department said contributed to both deaths.

The Spokane Valley City Council approved full-width paving for Sherwood Forest, Mica Park, Johnston and other neighborhoods in line to receive sewer lines this summer but cautioned Tuesday that the money for the paving could dry up in the future if city revenue is not set aside for road work. "It's a wise spending of the money to repave curb to curb when we're tearing up the street," said Mayor Diana Wilhite. But she cautioned that important road maintenance needs a steady source of funding, adding that the council likely will be asking voters to approve some type of dedicated road funding in the future.

A packed room of anxious Spokane Valley homeowners broke into applause Tuesday night after the City Council voted 3-2 to fund curb-to-curb paving in Sherwood Forest, Mica Park, Johnston and other neighborhoods following county sewer projects slated for this summer. "I really feel that to keep our city beautiful, we need the full-street paving," said Patty Muncy, a 27-year Mica Park resident.

WASHINGTON – Idaho could get about $100 million for federal projects next year, paying for everything from upgrading U.S. Highway 95 to studying grass seed and saving the Kootenai River burbot. Washington state could get about $353 million to pay for such things as nuclear waste cleanup, airport improvements, and research for wiping out jointed goat grass and growing asparagus better.

WASHINGTON – Washington state would get about $353 million for federal projects next year – paying for everything from nuclear waste cleanup and airport improvements to research for wiping out jointed goat grass and growing asparagus better. Idaho would get about $100 million, to pay for such things as upgrading U.S. 95, studying grass seed and saving the Kootenai River burbot.