Willow Run Needs Revisions In/Around: Five Mile Prairie

Thu., June 24, 1999

By Kristen Kromer kristenk@spokesman.com

Five Mile Prairie residents have had cause for celebration lately.

The proposed Willow Run manufactured-home park was dealt a blow when it was slapped with several revisions, including a significant decrease in home density.

“This is a huge victory for our tiny prairie,” said Five Mile Prairie neighborhood association chair Steve Mumm in a news release.

Last week, County Hearing Examiner Michael Dempsey issued his decision that partially approved and partially denied the Five Mile Prairie Neighborhood Association’s appeal of the approved site development plan of Willow Run.

Developer Greg Yost’s project calls for the creation of 238 spaces for manufactured homes on about 68 acres west of Five Mile Road and north of Johannsen Road. The plan also includes a swimming pool, fenced playground, putting green, evaporative ponds and several acres of open space.

Five Mile residents argued several issues, including vesting, density and the adequacy of the final environmental impact statement.

In his decision, which may still be appealed, Dempsey said that density had not been calculated correctly, and called for the number of manufactured home spaces to be reduced to 170.

Yost declined to comment on the decision or whether he plans to appeal it.

If the decision stands, it could have an effect on other manufactured home parks in Spokane County currently in the review process, Dempsey said.

The decision also requires Yost to submit an updated traffic analysis regarding the cumulative effects of Willow Run and other projects on the intersection of Waikiki and North Five Mile before development of each phase of the park.

Yost agreed to pay traffic mitigation fees of $1,430 per dwelling unit for Willow Run, and for his two other developments - Granger Terrace and Prairie Breeze - planned for the Prairie. The fees would be used to fund improvements along such roads as Strong, Five Mile and Cedar.

The last day to appeal the decision is July 12.

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