Committee Proposes Development Limits

The committee looking at policies to guide growth in Spokane County wants to ban urban development not connected to sewers and limit new one-acre home sites.

Those recommendations are among dozens emerging from months of work by 12 elected officials on the Growth Management Steering Committee.

Unlike in other counties in Washington, new development would be allowed in established areas outside city limits - such as the central Spokane Valley as long as the project could be served by paved roads, sewers, and mass transit.

New developments, however, could not be approved in rural areas unless they already were designated for growth and a plan existed to pay for public services there.

Officials are unanimous on the need to require sewers in urban projects over any aquifer.

“We really need to stand up and say we’re going to protect those aquifers and not leave it up to the Board of Health, because they won’t do it,” said Fred Nuffer, a Deer Park City Council member.

The policies must be approved by the city councils of every jurisdiction in the county. County commissioners then would hold a public hearing and adopt the final recommendations.

The county also would enforce the guidelines. Commissioners are considering establishing a board - jokingly called the God-like committee - to arbitrate disputes.

The most important element of the state Growth Management Act establishes 20-year boundaries in and around cities for future growth.

Under the policies being considered, each community would be asked to inventory available land and figure out how to accommodate population gains.

Cities would propose urban growth boundaries but county commissioners - or a regional board - would draw the lines.

One proposed policy would not allow cities to expand services outside their boundaries unless it’s shown that services inside are adequate.

Once boundaries are established, development inside would be easier while building outside would be forbidden or more expensive.

Unlike in other counties, the proposals do not dictate to communities what land inside cities should look like or at what density urban areas should develop.

Officials here will leave governments to hash that out as they update land-use plans.

Prohibiting one-acre lots would make it easier for cities such as Spokane, Medical Lake and Cheney to expand into the unincorporated area when needed.

One-acre plats are difficult to subdivide further and make utility extensions costly. Leaving rural tracts as farms or forests gives planners more options for future public buildings and parks.

One of the more interesting exchanges by elected officials came last Friday when Kevin Ottosen, a Fairfield City Council member, wondered if the policy placed an unfair burden on large landowners.

“I have a lot of acquaintances who are property owners and the county should not prohibit them from doing this,” he said of dividing land into one-acre lots.

But Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty and county Commissioner Pat Mummey said the restriction goes to the heart of state growth laws, which call for counties and cities to cooperate and plan together for areas that one day may see urban development.