Hangar to be built at Felts Field airport

The Spokane Valley City Council cleared the skies for a hobbyist who wants to build a large hangar for vintage aircraft at Felts Field airport.

Jeff Hamilton plans to build a 10,000-square-foot hangar to store his World War II-era planes, but he was denied a building permit from the city because part of the airport land is zoned for residential use.

In other city news, the council agreed to install a wooden dance floor in the Spokane Valley Senior Association’s future home at CenterPlace community center.

The airport issue goes back to an agreement made between the city of Spokane and Spokane County in 1990. The Spokane Airport Board’s master plan, a document that forecasts the airport’s growth for the next 20 years, takes precedence over zoning under the arrangement.

When Spokane Valley incorporated last year, it adopted Spokane County’s zoning code but not the 1990 agreement. On Tuesday, the council agreed in a 5-1 vote to allow the master plan to override the zoning code.

Councilman Richard Munson voted against the resolution because the council had just been made aware of the issue Tuesday.

“If we’d gotten this yesterday … I’d probably be voting for this,” he said. “But I cannot make an informed vote.”

Councilman Dick Denenny excused himself from the vote because he owns a hangar at the airport.

Felts Field straddles the line between the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley, with about 400 acres in Spokane and about 10 acres in Spokane Valley. Denenny said some buildings at the airport are split down the middle between the two jurisdictions.

John Morrison, CEO and executive director of Spokane Airports, said activity at Felts Field is up. About 370 aircraft are based there, compared with about 260 aircraft less than 10 years ago, he said.

“A new hangar means new airplanes and increased economic activity,” said Hamilton, who declined to say the estimated value of the hangar he’s building.

Denenny said at least two other individuals plan to build hangars near Hamilton’s.

In other business, Spokane Valley Senior Association members present at Tuesday’s meeting said they were pleased with the city’s decision to put a wooden dance floor in CenterPlace.

“I’m as happy as a lark,” Evelyn Santesson said.

The senior association, which will move its operations to CenterPlace once it’s completed next summer, said it would be difficult to dance on the linoleum floor that the city had planned to install for that purpose.

The wooden floor will go in the association’s multipurpose room, and it will be almost as large as the one the seniors use now.

The association is expected to pay the majority of the added costs, which amount to about $10,000.

The council won’t meet next Tuesday because its members will be in Ocean Shores for an Association of Washington Cities conference. self end