Growth Boundaries Questioned State Panel Says Developers Raise ‘Serious Questions’ About Size Of Interim Growth Areas

Planning for urban growth in Washington is like taking an algebra test: Cities and counties must show the math.

In a written statement issued Christmas Eve, a state panel ruled that the city of Spokane and the county didn’t show the math they used to draw temporary boundaries limiting urban development.

Under the state’s Growth Management Act, those boundaries are supposed to be just large enough to handle population increases expected in the next 20 years. The idea is to prevent urban sprawl into areas that don’t have sewers and other necessary infrastructure.

Developers who appealed Spokane County’s “interim urban growth areas” contend the boundary is too small. Among other things, the city counted undevelopable land as developable, the builders told the GMA Eastern Washington hearings board.

The three-member board said the city and county didn’t compile enough data to defend itself. And the developers found enough flaws in the city’s calculations to raise “serious questions” about whether the boundaries were properly drawn.

Among the land counted as buildable: Parcels beneath power transmission lines, and land already developed as a Lutheran church, a library, a city park and a youth center.

The city acknowledged it included some areas that are undevelopable and agreed to correct the problem before it and the county draw final growth boundaries.

A more contentious issue is whether the city must deduct wetlands, steep slopes and other “critical areas” from its inventory of buildable land. Developers said those lands must be deducted, and the hearings board agreed.

But city Planning Director Charlie Dotson said that’s not the case.

“We do not have to deduct for critical areas,” said Dotson, who had not yet read the hearing board’s decision. “If the board is telling us we have to, then we’ve got a problem because I think they’ve overstepped their bounds.”

The hearings board said its ruling doesn’t necessarily mean the growth boundaries are too small. Nor do the city and county have to go back to the drawing board.

Spokane city and county currently are working on comprehensive land-use plans, another requirement of the GMA. After those plans are completed, commissioners must approve permanent urban growth boundaries, sometime this year.

The hearings board said the county must write a plan for correcting the problems noted in last week’s decision before the permanent boundaries are adopted.

“Our decision reflects a feeling that the interim boundary is just that; it’s interim. It does not necessarily have to be perfect,” said hearings board member Skip Chilberg.

“In fact, the reason for the interim (boundary) is to find the errors so they can be corrected for the final boundaries.” , DataTimes