Plan Would Force Developers To Finish Job Homeowners Frustrated When Conditions For Building Projects Go Unmet

The houses are in, but the sidewalks, fences and landscaping the developer agreed to when the project was approved still haven’t appeared.

It’s a situation that some neighborhood activists call all-too-common: The city hearing examiner outlines a list of conditions a developer has to meet in developing a project; then, to the frustration of neighbors and homeowners, those conditions are ignored.

The city has no way, short of court action, of assuring that those conditions are met.

Monday, during their afternoon briefing, Spokane City Council members are expected to hear a proposal that could require developers to post a letter of credit that would more than cover the cost of completing the conditions.

If the conditions aren’t met, the money would be at risk.

Developers say it would be an unnecessary regulation, making it that much more difficult to build in Spokane.

But the proposal could be a boon to neighborhoods left with unfinished developments.

“It is about time,” said Candace Dahlstrom, vice chairwoman of the Five Mile Prairie Association. “Ultimately the taxpayer, all taxpayers, pay for this.”

“Most developers are good,” said Dahlstrom, “but others do their deal and leave town.”

“It is an absolute guarantee to the neighborhoods,” said Molly Myers of the proposal. Myers, the city’s director of neighborhood services, said neighborhood representatives raised the issue and brought forward examples.

“It took a neighborhood person to speak up about this,” said Myers.

Kathy Miotke, a Five Mile Prairie resident, raised the issue during a recent City Council hearing on a project.

“We had seen developments go up that had plat approval with conditions, conditions that were never met,” said Miotke.

She and other neighbors tried to find out which department at City Hall was responsible for making sure the conditions were met.

They discovered it just wasn’t being done.

“I think it is a serious problem,” said Nick Dragisich, assistant city manager in charge of operations.

“Conditions are imposed by the hearing examiner for a reason. People have the right to a reasonable expectation that conditions will happen.

“When they don’t, they have reason to be angry,” he said.

Suzanne Knapp, executive officer of the Spokane Home Builders Association, said the city already has a number of little hammers it can use to make certain conditions are met, including witholding building permits or not approving the second phase of a project.

Knapp said delays in meeting all conditions on a plat often are the result of a slow market or a project not moving along as quickly as a developer anticipated.

Five Mile Prairie residents recently complained that the developers of Crestview Estates, with 10 houses in the first phase, have failed to fulfill promises, leaving storm drainage unfinished and unlandscaped.

A dead-end sign and appropriate turn-around at the end of the street are also lacking.

The developer, Bob Frisch, blamed the weather and said he’ll be getting to it.