No Decision Reached To Extend Water Supply To School Site

The Spokane Boundary Review Board listened to almost three hours of testimony over extending a public water supply to the site of Mead School District’s second high school Monday night - then continued the meeting.

For Mead, this is the latest nerveracking delay in the process of getting a badly needed second high school.

The district’s clock is ticking toward a June 30 deadline - when Mead must have everything in place to build the school or lose $9 million in state matching money.

The latest holdup: the Spokane County Planning Department, which didn’t send a representative to the boundary review board meeting.

In the end, the board subpoenaed

a planning department representative to attend the continued meeting at a later date.

The board is faced with deciding whether to let Whitworth Water District extend its pipes from where they end at the site’s southwest border.

The board of volunteers reviews any annexations, incorporations or boundary changes proposed by local government agencies to see whether the changes are in the public interest.

Board members questioned whether the site was the best location possible in the Mead School District. District officials reminded them that determination already had been made and the question was about extension of water.

Some board members expressed concern that the site was not on a sewer line. But Mead representatives said in their district less than 10 percent of the land has sewers.

The Boundary Review Board will have 40 days following the meeting’s conclusion to issue its decision.