Hasson Wants Public Hearing On Vera Plan

County Commissioner Steve Hasson may have some ammunition for his fight with a Valley water district.

Hasson opposes a plan by the Vera Irrigation District to extend its water lines to 460 undeveloped acres south of the Valley.

The commissioner said the extension of water lines in and around the Ranch Park Estates subdivision will lead to urban development in a mostly rural area off state Highway 27, south of 44th Avenue.

“That may be good for their marketing plan, but I don’t know that that’s necessarily good for the public,” Hasson said.

The county planning staff informed Hasson recently that part of the proposed annexation is outside Vera’s future service area.

Hasson is hoping that means Vera has to hold a public hearing on the annexation and prepare an expensive and time-consuming environmental impact study.

He wrote a letter to the county attorney’s office seeking an opinion.

“I believe that the water plan calls for a hearing procedure and possible environmental mitigation if the agreed upon boundaries are to be modified,” Hasson said in the letter.

County attorneys are researching the matter.

Vera has been fighting the county over the proposal all year.

The Boundary Review Board voted to deny the annexation in October, but Vera officials decided to move forward anyway.

Vera officials maintain that the annexation is proper and that they are authorized under state law to move forward with it.

Several property owners in the area asked that they be included in the district.

Most of the land is owned by Pacific Securities, a Spokane development company.

Vera manager Kevin Wells has said the extension of water lines alone would not lead to high-density development and that the county has the final say on development matters.

, DataTimes