Urban Growth: It Gets Attention For Four Hours, Commissioners Listen To Citizens Talk About Development

For three years, Spokane County politicians, developers and environmentalists complained that no one was paying attention to the state’s Growth Management Act.

Wednesday afternoon, about 400 people proved them wrong.

For four hours, county commissioners listened as one person after another took the microphone to say why development should or shouldn’t be allowed in this neighborhood or on that piece of land.

The crowd filled the City Council chambers and spilled into the art gallery outside its doors, as they waited to speak about proposed “interim urban growth boundaries.”

The boundaries will determine where dense development is encouraged and where interim rules will ban new lots smaller than 10 acres.

Commissioners must decide whether to adopt the boundaries proposed by a steering committee or include more land in the urban area. They didn’t get a clear mandate from the crowd, which included Realtors, bird-watchers, Spokane newcomers and descendants of pioneers.

Each speaker was given five minutes before a clerk held up a sign that read “STOP.”

“Give the (home-)buying public a chance; make these boundaries as big as you can,” said Bob Boyle, a land developer.

“I urge a plan that minimizes urban sprawl,” said Sylvia Wilson of the Spokane Audubon Society.

Several residents from Glenrose Prairie complained that the boundaries would allow more subdivisions in the picturesque valley that first was settled in 1876.

Other people complained that land they planned on subdividing to fund retirement now was slated “rural.”

Jim Bohn said his family hadn’t planned on splitting up its 28 acres near the Mead Airport anytime soon. But they filed the paperwork in December, after seeing a map that showed their land would be outside the proposed growth boundaries.

Realtor Jim Dashiell warned that tight growth boundaries will bring apartment complexes to existing neighborhoods.

“I challenge the people of Spokane to consider whether they want the kind of development I fear will come here,” he said.

Commissioners started the day at 8 a.m., listening to a parade of attorneys representing nine developers appealing an environmental impact statement the steering committee used to draw its proposed boundaries.

Seattle attorney Mike Murphy, who represents Spokane developer Harley Douglass, questioned the city’s estimate that 13,400 more people could live in Indian Trail, where Douglass wants to build houses.

Douglass’ own surveyor says there’s room for only half that many, Murphy said, meaning the boundaries should encompass twice as much land as proposed for that North Side neighborhood.

Several speakers in the morning session criticized Richard Weinman, the consultant who wrote the environmental document, for not visiting land the city said could be developed. It includes flood plains, scablands and a 50-acre Superfund site, said Spokane engineer Mike Taylor.

Speakers also criticized Weinman for saying he did everything required under state law.

“We’ve heard what has become a mantra when an objection is raised. It’s ‘Not required, not required, not required, not required,”’ said attorney Jim Craven. “Are we going to take a minimalist approach here?”

Commissioners said they’ll decide Feb. 11 whether the developers’ complaints have merit. If so, the growth boundaries won’t be set until planners gather more information, which must then be discussed in public hearings before the boundaries can be drawn.

If the developers lose their appeals, commissioners said they’ll set the boundaries Feb. 11.

In the meantime, they’ve scheduled three more public hearings, in the Valley, and on the North Side and West Plains.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT? Commissioners will hold three more public hearings before making a decision on the proposed growth boundaries: Thursday, Jan. 30, at 6:30 p.m. Horizon Junior High School, 3915 S. Pines. Monday, Feb. 3, at 6:30 p.m. Cheney High School, 460 N. Sixth. Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m. Northwood Junior High School, 13120 N. Pittsburg.