Hearing Delayed On The Orchards

A hearing for a controversial Liberty Lake housing development has been postponed a second time.

The public hearing for a 109-acre subdivision called The Orchards has been rescheduled from Friday to Feb. 17 because developer Rex Harder has not completed wetland and wildlife studies of the area.

Harder’s attorney, Rick Dullanty, said his client is putting the final touches on the studies. They wanted to have both done before sending out notices to the public hearing.

The proposed development near Lakeside and Neyland roads would put 37 homes on 109 acres. Harder is also developing a 44-home subdivision, called Mackenzie Bay Beach Properties, across the street.

A hearing on The Orchards, planned for December, was postponed by the developer after county hearing examiner Mike Dempsey raised questions about the proposed subdivision’s impact on possible wetlands and wildlife.

The developer doesn’t believe the site is a wetland.

The state Department of Ecology has completed a wetland study, Dullanty said.

“Basically it said pretty much what we thought it would say,” he said.

There are no wetlands that would be impacted by the proposal and a stream believed to be on the site was mislabled on a county map, Dullanty said. The stream might touch the far northwest corner of the development. If that’s the case, they’ll answer those concerns with the proper buffer, he said.

He added Harder also plans to have a wildlife corridor.

Opponents, however, remain skeptical.

The group Friends of Liberty Lake opposed Mackenzie Bay, saying the development was outside the county’s growth boundaries and it would severely impact an important drainage basin and threaten wildlife in the area.

They say the same about the Orchards.

“It’s just another indication of the fact that they hadn’t done their homework,” said Friends of Liberty Lake member Bruce Andre. “The Mackenzie Bay application wasn’t complete when it was submitted. Neither was this.”

Applications for both The Orchards and Mackenzie Bay slipped in just under the 1996 deadline for the interim urban growth boundaries when county planners put a halt to urban-density development outside urban growth boundaries.

Andre said putting that many homes on such a small area means trouble for Liberty Lake.

There will be a wall of homes along a rural area of Liberty Lake and lots of stormwater runoff going through a small environmentally sensitive area, he said.

“That will be the end of Liberty Lake as we know it.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: NEW DATE A public hearing on a proposed 109-acre Liberty Lake subdivision called The Orchards has been rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 17 in the lower level of the Spokane County Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway.