Environmentalist Joining Growth Board

A former educator and self-proclaimed environmentalist has been appointed to represent north Spokane on a regional growth-management board.

Bart Haggin, 58, a retired Rogers High School English teacher and coach, will serve as a non-voting member of the county’s growth management steering committee. The appointment was one of the last made by County Commissioner Skip Chilberg before he left office.

Two other non-voting members, from the Spokane Valley, also have been appointed: Linda Tasca, president of a homeowners’ group in Greenacres, and Bob Henry, an official with the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The GMA steering committee advises county commissioners on new regulations and policies that would better manage population growth and development. Composed of 12 elected officials, the steering committee is studying where urban areas should end and how much population growth should occur inside city boundaries.

Once the boundaries are established, there would be no more annexations, and growth in rural areas would be more difficult.

Haggin and his family live along the Little Spokane River. He’s a former golf and cross country coach and has been active in the Sierra Club.

He’s now working to repeal Initiative 164, a property-rights measure passed by the Legislature that environmentalists think would devastate local government’s ability to regulate land use.

“I’m very concerned about urban sprawl and the effect of it on the environment,” Haggin said.

Haggin has sparred with Commissioner Steve Hasson over the issue of a combined city-county sewer system, and Hasson said of Haggin last week, “I have a disdain for him.”

Still, Hasson has promised to work with Haggin on any concerns about the growth process and how it affects the suburban North Side.

“The more people around the table, the more perspectives you get,” Hasson said. “He makes me think a lot harder.”

, DataTimes