Max Spalding, owner of Spalding Auto Parts, would like to store wrecked cars on 11 acres he owns between Knox Avenue and Interstate 90.

The property is just west of his domestic car and truck headquarters at 2200 N. University.

Spalding will have to get the county’s permission to do so.

The land is zoned for light industrial uses, and wrecking yards aren’t allowed without special permission.

County zoning adjustor Tom Mosher will consider Spalding’s request during a public hearing Wednesday.

Spalding also has asked to be exempted from a county rule that requires junked cars to be stored behind sight-obscuring fences.

Spalding’s existing junkyards are exempted from the rule, and the cars and trucks that are stripped for parts are clearly visible from I-90 and Knox.

The owner said his business stored cars on the site in the past but quit the practice because it was inconvenient.

Things have changed now, Spalding said, and he needs the room.

County regulations on wrecking yards changed in the meantime, necessitating the hearing.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Public hearing Wednesday A public hearing on Spalding’s proposal begins Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the downstairs meeting room of the county public works building, 1026 W. Broadway. The biggest used auto parts dealer in the Spokane Valley wants to get bigger.