Grandview Housing Planned Hearing On 267-Home Project Will Be Today At City Hall
A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the Spokane City Hall on a major housing development in southwest Spokane.
A Seattle development company is seeking approval of a plan to build 267 homes in the Grandview area across Interstate 90 from the Finch Arboretum.
The 68-acre plat and planned unit development is part of the Grandview Annexation approved last summer by the City Council.
Hearing Examiner Greg Smith will take testimony in the council’s briefing center in the lower level of City Hall starting at 6 p.m.
Already, the hearing examiner has obtained several inches of documents in the hearing file, including engineering plans, correspondence and maps.
In December, residents of the area were invited to a community meeting to discuss the plans with the developer, West Jackson Company Inc. of Seattle.
Among neighborhood concerns is the increase in traffic on streets, especially narrow Grandview Avenue, which is used heavily by bikers, walkers and joggers.
One current resident is recommending wider shoulders for safety purposes.
Engineers estimate the development would create 2,550 one-way vehicle trips each day.
A traffic consultant has recommended the construction of a left-turn lane northbound on Rustle Street at Sunset Boulevard.
City officials are closely watching plans for handling stormwater runoff. Consulting engineers are recommending the installation of an evaporation pond that would also serve as an open space near the center of the subdivision.
A stormwater consultant said the pond could raise the groundwater level around existing homes downslope from the proposed subdivision, so steps must be taken to prevent that.
The Spokane International Airport staff is recommending an air-navigation easement preventing construction of any buildings over 35 feet high. Only single-family homes are planned for the development, which is west of H Street.
Nearby residents also are asking that the developer contribute to the parks system in the neighborhood.
Included in the development is the stormwater open space and a small “pocket park” of about two lots in size.
Developer Barry Margolese of Stanwood, Wash., has said he will contribute to the city parks system.
During construction, crews will have to do controlled blasting to create road grades and install drywells. City officials don’t want blasting done near a large sewer pipe in the neighborhood.
, DataTimes