Suit Filed To Prevent Annexation

Plans to annex part of Glenrose Prairie hit a snag this week when neighbors filed a lawsuit against the city of Spokane.

“You don’t take a rural area and turn it urban unless you have to,” said Steve Eugster, attorney for the 200-member Glenrose Neighborhood Association.

“It’s another example of the city knowing what is right and avoiding doing the right thing.”

The lawsuit charges the annexation violates the state’s Growth Management Act, which guides where urban growth should take place. Spokane County is in the midst of drawing its urban growth boundaries, which should be set by October 1996.

By annexing about 100 acres of the prairie, the city is “trying to get a jump on urban boundaries by annexing an area clearly rural in nature,” Eugster said.

The annexation isn’t necessary to meet the city’s projected urban growth needs for the next 20 years, he said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This story is incomplete. It was reprinted in its entirety on August 26, 1995, under the headline: Group’s lawsuit takes aim at Glenrose annexation plan.

This sidebar appeared with the story: DEADLINE The council set a Sept. 1 deadline for accepting any new annexation proposals until urban boundaries are set.