Ecology Gets Earful State Urged To Reject Request For Shopping Center Inside Spokane River Buffer

Developer Raymond Hanson should not be allowed to build a shopping center closer to the Spokane River than normally is allowed, Spokane County residents said at a public hearing Thursday night.

“The citizens of Spokane don’t want this mall, … and if the river could speak, the river would not want this mall. The only people who want this mall are Raymond Hanson and his lawyers,” said one man at the hearing.

Most speakers told the state Department of Ecology that the county’s request to change shoreline regulations - which do not allow development within 200 feet of the river - should be denied. The shopping center would be located between the Spokane Valley Mall and the river.

Earlier this year, county commissioners agreed to amend the shoreline regulations to allow the shopping center to be built inside the 200-foot buffer.

The vote was 2-1 with Commissioner John Roskelley strongly opposed. Since then, Hanson has formed a political action committee to fight Roskelley’s re-election bid.

The Department of Ecology must sign off on the change because the Spokane River is considered a “shoreline of statewide significance.” As such, any change in the local master program must protect statewide interests over local interests and must protect the natural character, resources and ecology of the shoreline, according to the department.

Residents who spoke at the hearing were overwhelmingly opposed to the change. Only two of the 16 people who testified favored changing the shoreline regulations, including John Nunnery, Spokane County shoreline administrator and Bob Boyle, vice president of Hanson Industries.

Others said that allowing Hanson to build the proposed Market Pointe II development within 150 feet of the river does not meet the guidelines of the state’s Shoreline Management Act and would be amount to a “piecemeal” change. It would also open the riverbanks to other similar development.

“Isn’t there some other place you could choose to develop that wouldn’t affect the river?” asked Mark A. Johnston.

Several people recounted their experiences with quail, cottontail rabbits and other wildlife in the area to counter the county’s finding that the land supports few if any native plants and animals.

Harry Merrick, of Chattaroy, said the Spokane River in that area supports an unusual mix of evergreens that includes Rocky Mountain juniper, Douglas firs and Ponderosa pine trees. That kind of mix is found in few other places, he said.

Those junipers are already stressed by the development of a hotel adjacent to the site being considered for the shoreline change.

Boyle, of Hanson Industries, told the Department of Ecology that the company is caught in the middle of a jurisdictional dispute over the shoreline.

“We have been involved in this for two years and in two years, we have satisfied every mitigation measure and exaction that Spokane County has put on us,” he said. “I urge the county and the state to fix this so that other private property owners are not victimized.”

The Department of Ecology will continue to accept public comments on the proposed change to the state’s Shoreline Management Act through July 31.

After that the department will issue a summary and report on the public testimony and give the county a month and half to respond to the concerns raised.

The director of the Department of Ecology will make a final decision on the request.

This sidebar appeared with the story: UPCOMING Comment period

Written comments on Spokane County’s request to amend the state shoreline regulations will be accepted through July 31. They can be mailed to: Doug Pineo, SEA Program, 4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane, WA 99205. Comments can be e-mailed to dpin461@ecy.wa.gov.

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