Neighbors Oppose Apartment Proposal

Homeowners living near 57th and Regal are fighting a proposed apartment project about a block from Mullan Road Elementary School.

It is the latest skirmish in an escalating fight over growth and development on Moran Prairie.

On Tuesday, opponents told Spokane County commissioners the apartment project would clash with the surrounding neighborhood of mostly single-family homes.

“This change is dramatic,” said attorney Mike Connelly, representing homeowner Bonnie Dashiell.

In February, the county’s hearing examiner approved the project for 48 apartments in six buildings and six duplex units on 3.7 acres.

The site is undeveloped and located on Regal Street about a block northeast of the neighborhood’s elementary school.

Dashiell appealed the decision to county commissioners, who decided Tuesday to postpone their decision one week.

Dashiell, who lives next to the proposed project, did not speak at the hearing.

The project is being sought by a partnership called Regal Properties. The applicant is Tom Clemson of Spokane.

Attorney Stan Schultz, representing the applicant, said the apartments will attract higher-income renters. The buildings in a garden-type setting will have attractive designs and a lot of landscaping to create a buffer zone next to the surrounding neighborhood.

Opponents to the project include members of the Moran Prairie Neighborhood Association, which formed earlier this year to advocate better growth planning.

Susan Brudnicki, president of the association, said the apartment project would aggravate stormwater flooding on the prairie by replacing open land with roofs and pavement.

She also warned commissioners that traffic from the complex would add to the growing congestion along Regal and 57th Avenue.

“It absolutely creates serious environmental degradation to the community,” Brudnicki said.

Connelly argued that the proposal is inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan because it conflicts with the single-family character of the area. He said the plan calls for putting apartments on major arterials, but Regal is only a minor arterial.

Connelly described the project as “leapfrog development” that turns neighborhoods into confusion, something the comprehensive plan discourages.

“I think it is clear this is not consistent with the comprehensive plan,” he said.

Schultz responded by saying that traffic studies show the apartment project would not cause congestion. The project will be designed to handle stormwater on the site, he said.

Schultz also said 15 government agencies reviewed the application, and none submitted objections.

, DataTimes