Panel Recommends Denial Of Sunset West’S Proposal Developer Wants To Amend Indian Trail Neighborhood Specific Plan

Thu., Sept. 21, 2000

By Isamu Jordan isamuj@spokesman.com

If a recommendation from the city Plan Commission holds up, the Indian Trail Neighborhood Specific Plan will stay intact.

That means Sunset West developer Leif Sorenson would have to look elsewhere to build a 19-acre shopping center that was planned for Indian Trail Road.

The Plan Commission voted unanimously Sept. 13 to recommend a denial of the plan amendment requested by Sunset West based on five criteria.

Members of the Indian Trail Neighborhood Council see the vote as a victory, although having another shopping center in the area is not their main concern.

It’s the idea of amending the neighborhood specific plan that has propelled council Chairwoman Cheryl Flemming toward petition drives, telephone surveys and passionate speeches against the development.

In order to build the shopping center, Sunset West must request a change from the existing residential zoning to commercial business zoning.

Before that can happen, the city must approve an amendment to the neighborhood plan, which was written with input from Indian Trail residents and adopted by the City Council in 1995.

“The proposed shopping center was well designed, but it doesn’t fit the neighborhood,” said Indian Trail resident Clay Schueman.

Flemming said amending the plan would set a precedent that would give developers the power to alter neighborhood plans at will.

“Since this (shopping center) was proposed in the very beginning, the general consensus was against an amendment to the neighborhood specific plan,” Flemming said.

The Plan Commission’s recommendation will go to City Council for a vote in about a month. There will be an opportunity to appeal the City Council’s decision.

Two years ago city hearing examiner Greg Smith rejected a similar request for a rezone in Latah Valley because of limits on commercial development set in the Latah Creek Specific Plan.

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