Another Try For Valley Incorporation

Armed with a new plan and renewed vigor, backers of a city in the Spokane Valley have filed a petition to put incorporation on the ballot for a third time, probably next year.

Tentative boundaries for the proposed city of 75,000 indicate it would not include Kaiser Aluminum’s Trentwood plant or the Spokane Industrial Park. Owners of both opposed incorporation in April, when the issue gained support from 44 percent of 16,868 voters.

“They sent us a clear message last time,” said Howard Herman, who filed the petition Monday.

New state laws change the latest proposal. The Boundary Review Board has 30 days to hold a public meeting, which is tentatively set for Aug. 30 at a location yet to be chosen.

The meeting is mandated by the Legislature because residents in a Yakima neighborhood were unsure if their homes were inside a new city until the issue made the ballot.

“It’s really for proponents to hear what people have to say before they start circulating their petitions,” said Susan Winchell of the Boundary Review Board, which reviews incorporation proposals.

After the meeting, backers would file a formal petition listing specific boundaries. They then would have to gather about 3,500 signatures of registered voters.

Another public hearing would be held before the issue would go to a vote, probably in April or May of 1995, Herman said.

Proponents are looking at similar boundaries from the last vote, but say they might exclude areas where resistance was high.

Herman added that Otis Orchards might be dropped if residents there and in Liberty Lake pursue a separate incorporation effort.

The first incorporation effort in 1990 gained 34 percent pproval.

Boundaries were tweeked for the vote this year and the name of Chief Joseph was changed to city of Spokane Valley.

Those changes helped boost support to 44 percent. Herman and county Commissioner Steve Hasson say that because of new state growth laws, Valley residents would gain more control over development by forming a city.

Cities are the first to absorb new development and automatically are designated urban growth areas.

“You become an urban growth boundary, but you also become one of the players,” said Herman.

“There’s an increasing awareness that if the Valley doesn’t incorporate, decisions will be made by people outside the Valley.”

The growth laws also will affect other aspects of the incorporation effort.

After the formal petition is filed, the city of Spokane will have 90 days to ask that a portion of the area be excluded from the new city and annexed instead.

Business leaders in the Yardley area just east of Spokane city limits already have met with the city asking for a study of annexation in exchange for city sewer service.

They then could decide whether to be a part of Spokane or be included in the new Valley city.

In addition, the Boundary Review Board cannot approve an incorporation that would fall outside an urban growth area.

The new growth laws are designed so that areas outside of cities remain rural.