Cost Of Approval Is Breaking Faith
Why go to all the bother of writing laws and government policies if they vanish right when the people need them?
Take planning and zoning laws, for instance.
In theory, these laws protect a community’s residents, their property values, their quality of life. If your neighbor proposes to replace his home with an adult video store, government should tell him commerce isn’t allowed in a residential zone. Your property value is safe.
In practice, however, it sometimes appears that plans and zones create an illusion of protection - the hustle of citizen committees, the rustle of papers, the bustle of lawyers and planners - an illusion that dissolves when government gets a better offer.
The proposal to construct a Wal-Mart and other stores near the North Division Y, may turn out to be a perfect example. It awaits a decision by county zoning authorities.
A Colorado developer wants Spokane County to allow a 40-acre gold mine west of the Newport Highway and north of Hawthorne Road. On this land would go a complex of commercial buildings that would pour tax revenue into the county treasury and profits into big out-of-town corporations.
The Pine Water Plaza hopes to attract heavy traffic: 1,900 cars per hour on Saturday afternoons. This has serious implications for the North Division Y, a worsening bottleneck.
This would be great for the new businesses. It would hurt some current businesses. Retailing, American style, doesn’t grow so much as it just moves around. Commercial land closer to the city - already covered with the acres of asphalt and the big bunker-like buildings some retail corporations prefer - would empty.
The project also has implications for the project’s neighbors. Residential subdivisions adjoin the site. Their occupants rely on the county’s plan and zoning, which do not allow heavy commercial use there. Who has a higher claim on county policy? Wal-Mart and a Colorado developer? Or the residents of Camelot, College Place, Carriage Hills and all of the subdivisions to be victimized in future projects?
The developer contends commerce is destiny for this area, so zoning should change. At what cost to nearby property owners? At what cost to the developer? As a matter of policy, developers should pay for highway infrastructure they make necessary. This developer offers a paltry $500,000 in traffic improvements. That’ll keep the toasters cheap - and make North Side motorists miserable.
There will be one more cost if the project proceeds: County planning and zoning will have the credibility of a plug nickel.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board