Overdevelopment Large Concern For Residents Of Indian Trail Area
Some 30 residents of the Indian Trail neighborhood sent a clear message to the city Tuesday night: protect us from overdevelopment.
In the first of two workshops on the area’s comprehensive and zoning plan, residents agreed on a variety of policies they want included in the document. Foremost among them is the preservation of single-family neighborhoods, protected from higher-density walled subdivisions that segment residential areas.
They made a strong statement for connecting paths and bike routes and proclaimed suburban living is not an evil. They asked to be more involved in such issues as the widening of Indian Trail Road, community policing, and updates on the planning process. They said time is long past for the city of Spokane and School District 81 to start collecting impact fees on new development.
A second workshop is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. on July 6 at Woodridge Elementary. Comments from the two sessions are to be included in a final draft of the neighborhood specific plan, which would then go to the city plan commission. The commission itself is due to hold a workshop on July 26 and a public hearing Aug. 23.
The Spokane City Council will consider the plan for adoption after its own hearing. It would then be binding on developers, the city, and the neighborhood.
The document has already gone through many revisions, the latest being to reduce 650 future dwelling units in order to ensure intersections along Francis Avenue meet federal clean air guidelines.
One latest change would also keep a moratorium on new plats until road improvements are funded. The largest would be a $5.2 million project to create a minor arterial along Barnes Road, Strong Road and Five Mile Road.
According to transportation planners, that new road would divert enough traffic off of Indian Trail Road to keep the area around Francis-Alberta-Ash in compliance with federal emission standards.
“You don’t really need to divert a whole lot of traffic to make Francis run effectively,” said Ken Decker, a planner with the Spokane Regional Transportation Council.
Other concerns by residents included future use of the city’s old landfill, the lack of specific design standards for multi-family units, future annexation and growth in the unincorporated area, and the loss of native trees to new homes and wider roads.
, DataTimes