Mccaslin Would Like More Comment On County’S Comprehensive Plan

Liberty Lake residents came Tuesday night to hear Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin’s take on incorporation and the latest draft of the county’s comprehensive plan.

McCaslin told the 22 Liberty Lake residents present at her quarterly town hall-style meeting that if they voted to incorporate, she would work hard to make the process “smooth and efficient.”

“We take our marching orders from the voters. If you want to do that (incorporate), you have the right to,” she said.

The same goes for drawing urban growth boundaries. These boundaries will be used by commissioners to determine which areas of the county can be most densely developed and which areas will stay rural during the next 20 years.

The current working draft of the plan is still open for citizen comments, McCaslin said. She’s worried that most people don’t realize that where boundaries are drawn will determine the future of their neighborhoods.

“I have some fear that people are people and don’t realize how important and how far reaching this is,” she said. “I’d rather get input at the front end than have to figure out how to fix it later.”

The map of the proposed comprehensive plans covering the Liberty Lake area has eight different land uses.

Several citizens told her the land-use designations seemed all wrong.

McCaslin agrees that she has some trepidation about the comprehensive plan. She feels it leaves no room for the suburban areas that she and many other people grew up with.

Currenty the plan calls for all land south of Sprague Avenue in Liberty Lake to be designated rural.

“I would have to hear compelling arguments before I would vote to change that,” she said.

Besides incorporation, resident Jim Wildemann asked McCaslin what the county was doing to bring more businesses to the area.

McCaslin promised residents she will continue working to better streamline the permit process to make it more attractive for businesses to relocate to Liberty Lake and elsewhere in Spokane County.

Traffic was also a big concern.

Residents asked for slower speeds on residential streets and traffic lights that are timed so someone traveling at the speed limit could hit all green lights.

Several road projects are planned for the Liberty Lake area in the next few years. McCaslin said that should help with some of the traffic problems.

A loop ramp at the Interstate 90 Harvard Road exit will make it easier for people coming from Liberty Lake to head west on I-90. Construction should start in 2001.

In the next few years, the county will also build guard rails on the east side of Liberty Lake Drive near the water.

When asked about the status of the light rail project, originally planned to run from Liberty Lake to downtown Spokane, McCaslin first said the project was “stalled,” then corrected herself saying it had been “slowed down.”

“We need to do it now when congestion is just starting,” she said of the light rail. “We could be ahead of the game.”