County Will Miss Growth Law Deadline Won’t Draw Interim Growth Boundaries Until December

Spokane County and the cities within its boundaries will miss a key Growth Management Act deadline by at least two months.

The 1993 law requires counties and cities to work together to determine where growth will occur during the next 20 years, and which local governments will serve which areas.

One of the first steps in that process - drawing “interim urban growth areas,”- was supposed to be completed by Oct. 1.

The Growth Management Act Steering Committee, which includes representatives of the various governments within Spokane County, tentatively agreed Friday to a schedule that calls for completing the maps on Dec. 3.

The two-month delay makes little difference, as long as state officials are certain the work is being done, said Steve Worthington, Cheney’s director of community development.

“Almost all of the counties in this process have missed their … deadlines,” Worthington said.

Some county residents who attended Friday’s meeting asked that growth planning be slowed even more.

“This process is moving forward in a very fast, very quick way,” said Gene Cohen, a developer who contends the act erodes property rights. “Most people in the county have not got the slightest idea what you guys are up to.”

Loyd Peterson, a retired land appraiser from Otis Orchards, said the county shouldn’t just slow down; it should stop complying with the Growth Management Act.

“I believe the best thing our county commissioners could do is to join with the commissioners of Chelan County in their lawsuit against the act,” said Peterson.

Gov. Mike Lowry recently announced sanctions against Chelan County because officials there refuse to comply with the law. County commissioners there have vowed to fight the act in court.

, DataTimes