Residents Oppose Planned Commercial Development City Council Expected To Rule On Site At Meadow Lane Road, Highway 195 In/Around: Latah Valley

About the time the grass starts growing along Hangman Creek this spring, neighbors will be debating a new plan for commercial development in the verdant valley.

“Our neighborhood has so much value to the city in natural resources,” said Gail Howard, a co-chair of the Latah Valley Neighborhood Council.

Howard and other neighbors are fighting a proposal by fellow resident George Chica to create new commercial property at U.S. Highway 195 and Meadow Lane Road.

Chica, who owns 46 acres at the intersection, wants to turn about 15 acres into commercial property to serve the growing population near Hangman Creek.

The Spokane Plan Commission in January voted 6-1 in favor of Chica’s amendment to the city’s comprehensive land-use plan.

The proposal is expected to go before the Spokane City Council this spring.

Howard said she hopes the new political makeup of the City Council will give residents a better chance of stopping Chica’s land-use change.

She and other opponents have argued that Chica’s land-use amendment circumvents the longstanding Latah Creek Specific Plan and the intent of the state Growth Management Act.

“We are trying to prevail on logic and the law,” Howard said.

“Environmentally, it’s not a good thing to add more vehicles, more lights and more visual pollution,” she said.

The Latah specific plan calls for a single 20-acre commercial site in the valley. That has been developed with a Tidyman’s store and other commercial uses at U.S. 195 and Cheney-Spokane Road. The land previously was farmed for vegetable crops.

The limitation on commercial development was adopted to control sprawl in the semirural valley.

Chica’s proposal would get around those controls.

Chica was not available for comment this week.

In a previous interview, he said the development of houses at Eagle Ridge off Meadow Lane Road and other new subdivisions has brought a need for more commercial services for local residents.

Eagle Ridge could have as many as 2,500 homes when it is fully developed, although only a fraction of those have actually been built.