Council To Consider Zoning Issues

The Spokane City Council will consider adopting new zoning amendments and design guidelines for the downtown area today.

The new documents are necessary to implement a plan called “Charting the Future, A Plan for a New Downtown,” which was adopted by the council in March 1999.

The zoning amendment will break the downtown area into six geographical areas with different regulations tailored specifically for those areas. A common zone with standard restrictions will overlay the entire area.

“Some of the benefits of the new zoning are unlimited height for the core area, the promotion of pedestrian-oriented streets and increased flexibility in some of the other development standards not available under the current zone,” the Spokane’s urban designer, W.C. Bell, wrote on the city’s Web site.

The new design guidelines promote flexibility, and city planners hope they will stimulate innovative approaches to developments in the downtown area, Bell added.

“They are intended to be educational and are concerned with the social fabric of our urban environment, how people use spaces, and how to create an active, unique and attractive downtown,” he said.

The zone changes and guidelines were the subjects of public hearings earlier this year.

The council meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers in the lower level of City Hall.