County Land Plan Draws Critics

Judging from the first public hearing, nobody is completely satisfied with the current draft of Spokane County’s updated land-use plan.

Twenty-six people spent the better part of 2-1/2 hours Thursday telling county planning commissioners how they should change the plan.

Planning commissioners will take those suggestions and others received during three additional hearings and massage the document before passing it along to county commissioners, who may adopt it before the end of the year.

The state’s Growth Management Act dictates that Spokane County update its land-use plan. The new document, which has been two years in the making, will regulate growth and development in the unincorporated area for the next 20 years.

The city of Spokane is undertaking a similar project. The city’s draft plan is expected to be released next month.

On Thursday, speakers ranging from neighborhood activists to real estate agents thanked planning commissioners for developing the county’s draft plan, then assailed it.

Rich Thorsten, with a group called 1,000 Friends of Washington, criticized the plan for containing too much land earmarked for low-density residential uses.

The current draft contains about 29,000 acres earmarked for houses and duplexes and only 4,000 acres for high-density residential uses such as apartment houses, said Thorsten, who traveled from Seattle to attend the hearing.

“That’s planning for urban sprawl,” he said

Spokane-area developer Greg Blessing said the current draft doesn’t contain nearly enough land for high-density uses, stunting economic development, he said.

Several commercial real estate brokers complained that improvements proposed for industrial districts - such as landscaping, sidewalks and bike paths - are expensive and unnecessary.

“Who would want their kids riding their bikes in an area where most of the traffic is heavy trucks?” real estate broker Earl Engle asked.

Resident Annette Rahn asked planning commissioners to do everything they can to protect critical areas near the Little Spokane River Natural Area northwest of Spokane.

Valley resident Wanda B. Warren exhorted the commission to reduce housing densities in her Edgecliff neighborhood, which has been greatly affected by the new Sprague Avenue-Interstate 90 interchange.

Doris Pike complained that the zoning on some property she and her husband own near Tyler would go from 5-acre minimums to 10-acre minimums, basically cutting the value of the property in half.

The Pikes plan to subdivide the land to pay for their retirement.

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IF YOU GO

Hearings

The Spokane County Planning Commission will hold three more hearings on the draft comprehensive land-use plan:

Thursday, 5:30 p.m., Horizon Junior High School, 3915 S. Pines.

May 11, 5:30 p.m., Northwood Middle School, 12130 N. Pittsburg.

May 18, 5:30 p.m., Medical Lake City Hall, 124 S. Lefevre, Medical Lake.