Letters To The Editor

Shopping plaza has several drawbacks

Thank you for the informative article by Jennifer Plunkett which appeared in the Valley Voice on Saturday, Oct. 26. I had no idea what was going on prior to the news article.

The proposal for rezoning and siting a shopping plaza at 32nd and Highway 27 is a bad idea for several reasons. First, Because it will be difficult to reach except by automobile. The proposed shopping plaza will be separated from many of the households which it is intended to serve by a high speed highway. The only safe and practical way for anyone in the area to get there will be by car. Even without traffic light, the intersection on Highway 27 and 32nd will continue to be a hazard as well as a traffic bottleneck.

Another serious drawback is that the proposed development will contribute to the flooding problem in the Chester Creek Watershed because of the amount of impervious surfaces it will impose on our watershed.

Finally, don’t we have enough supermarkets, parking lots, fast food joints and “retail pads” as it is? This type of development is unsightly with its acres of asphalt and big box stores. No amount of landscaping will change that fact. More importantly, it demands use of the car to shop when we could be figuring out ways to promote pedestrian-friendly shopping areas at a small town scale. Deidre Allen Spokane

Spokane Valley Center needs support of the community

The Spokane Valley Center is the Valley’s central source of help for those in need.

The center houses a clothing bank, the Valley Food Bank, emergency financial assistance, women and children’s nutrition, Senior Chore, and an educational center.

The center has proven a very efficient and cost-effective way to serve those in need. Duplication of services is avoided and contributions to the center support all the needs of the Valley’s poor. The center employs only two people and in 1995 served 9,000 households at a cost of less than $100,000.

Half of those served by the center are children. Less than 12 percent of the center’s clients are repeat users of services. Most clients are working poor, who need temporary help between jobs, after a divorce, or when unexpected emergencies arise.

The center was founded by eight Valley churches. Now, 28 churches support the center. As needs have grown, the center must now call on the entire community for help.

The center is now in the second month of its annual campaign for community support. This year’s goal is $75,000. More than $35,000 has already been raised.

I urge members of the community to support this unique Valley institution. A single donation to the center will help all the Valley’s needy.

Contributions may be sent to: Spokane Valley Center, 11922 E. First, Spokane, WA 99206. Claude W. Morris Valley Center board of directors

Urban growth a threat to Liberty Lake quality

The Liberty Lake community is greatly concerned that the Liberty Lake watershed has been considered for inclusion within the county’s urban growth area (UGA).

The Liberty Lake watershed is the drainage basin which surrounds that lake and is defined by ridges on the west, south and east, and by a low hill on the north which runs across Liberty Lake Golf Course.

When precipitation falls in watershed areas where healthy natural vegetation exists, most of the water is absorbed by plants, held for evaporation, or slowly transmitted to groundwater. When precipitation or irrigation falls in developed area, however, it picks up fertilizers, silt and other pollutants, and a significant percentage of this polluted water flows directly into the lake as stormwater runoff. Grassy swales can be used to absorb some of these pollutants, but they cannot catch all of it.

The vast majority of Liberty Lake residents strongly support excluding the watershed from the UGA. The reason for this is simple. Liberty Lake was nearly lost to eutrophication (algae blooms) in the late 1970s before the sewer system was installed.

The lake has improved dramatically since then, but this shallow lake is still very fragile. Indeed, at least two major algae blooms occurred this past summer. The lake simply cannot tolerate significant new development in the watershed, and the inevitable increase in storm water runoff. Paul Humphreys Liberty Lake