Two slots will shape the future

Spokane County residents love their parks and open spaces.

They’ve overwhelmingly voted for taxes to support parks, including bond issues and the Conservation Futures program, which allows the county to purchase open space to preserve for future generations.

At the same time, people with a Western spirit who love open land often also cherish property rights and knowing that Spokane is still the kind of community where the average family can afford to buy a home.

Can both coexist?

Just what Spokane County will look like 10 or 20 years from now will depend in large part on Spokane County commissioners.

Commissioners especially have the power to mold the community by adjusting the boundary within which urban-style development can take place and defining what types of development belong where. Commercial property here. Agricultural land there.

For years there’s been a sort of predictability to how commissioners have handled such issues.

Commissioner Phil Harris has tended to come out on the side of private property rights. Commissioner John Roskelley has championed neighborhood preservation and conservation. And Commissioner Kate McCaslin frequently found herself somewhere in the middle.

But with Roskelley resigning to take an appointed position with the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board and McCaslin retiring at the end of the year, how the county will grow and develop is up for grabs.

On Nov. 2, voters will select two new commissioners, and the race is being watched with interest on both sides of the growth debate. In the race to replace Roskelley, Republican Todd Mielke is facing Democrat Linda Wolverton. Democrat Bill Burke and Republican Mark Richard are vying for McCaslin’s position.

‘Voters have control’

Developers are hoping for a commission that will give them more flexibility to build the way they want, will cut red tape at the county and be responsive to changing community demands for property zoned for commercial, industrial and residential use. They’ve tended to support the Republicans, Mielke and Richard.

Conservationists and neighborhood activists – who’ve generally backed Democrats Wolverton and Burke – want a commission that will respect their input into planning decisions, while preserving neighborhoods and open spaces.

“This is the point where voters have control,” said Vicki Sola, of the Spokane Mountaineers.

“I think there’s a huge amount at stake. The county is either going to go to the special interests or to the folks who want to invest in the whole community,” said Bonnie Mager, of the Neighborhood Alliance, which helps neighborhoods plan for the future and fight development they feel is out of place for their area.

Without protections in place, more and more parts of the county will be deforested, sensitive lands will be gobbled up by development and neighborhoods will have to deal with issues like poor drainage and poor design, Mager said.

On the flip side, good leadership will preserve the environment and make neighborhoods more livable, she said.

But developer Richard Vandervert said the county can’t afford to stop building new homes and businesses if people want places to live and work.

“You need to look at somebody who’s pro-growth and pro-development. This county needs to get some economic development going,” Vandervert said.

Spokane County’s land-use policies have been shortsighted in the past, he said.

“It really doesn’t matter what two we get in there,” Vandervert said of the four candidates. “They’re going to be better than what we had.”

Lots of houses

Even so, Vandervert has thrown his support behind Richard and Mielke. The two Republicans are viewed by many developers as likely to be more supportive of growth.

Many conservationists are supporting the two Democrats, Burke and Wolverton, accusing Mielke and Richard of caring too much about the building industry.

As the government affairs director for the Spokane Home Builders Association, Richard has especially faced this charge.

Commissioners have the ability to prescribe what types of development can take place in which parts of the county and to give the yea or nea to property owners’ requests for changes to that zoning during the annual comprehensive amendment process.

They are also scheduled to review the county’s urban growth area in the next two years, potentially adding or subtracting from the land available for urban-style development.

Pro-growth advocates say they fear if the county falls on the side of stricter limits on building new homes, that Spokane County could face a shortage of homes and see prices rise.

After years of stagnation, Spokane housing prices have lately been increasing.

The median price of a home in Spokane was $119,000 in the first quarter of this year, compared with $114,700 a year earlier. (The median is the point where half of the houses are more expensive and half are less expensive.)

Even so, housing here is still considered extremely affordable. Local prices are still well below the national median of $170,000.

Spokane scores almost 210 on the housing affordability index. The higher the score, the better it is for people looking to buy a home. A score of 100 is considered the equilibrium point, in which a family with the county’s median household income can afford mortgage payments on the median-priced home in that county.

And though some contend that strict limits on building will create a shortage of new homes, there were 416 unsold new houses in Spokane County at the end of March compared with 321 just six months prior.

‘Small, tiny lots’

But Washington’s Growth Management Act is already changing Spokane County in some significant ways.

Neither neighborhood groups nor developers have been big fans of the increased emphasis GMA has placed on higher density development.

Many homebuilders say the tightly packed houses don’t appeal as much to their customers as homes on larger lots. Neighborhoods like Ponderosa in Spokane Valley have protested that such high-density developments aren’t always a good fit for existing neighborhoods.

“I see an over-emphasis on the small lot situation, of moving toward small, tiny lots,” said local builder Craig Condron. “I’m not sure everybody in the general public wants to be on patio-type lot sites.”

Condron said current county regulations and zoning make it more difficult for builders to offer the kind of one-acre lots that people want. At the same time, allowing only one house per five acres in areas outside the county’s urban growth boundary eats up too much land, he said. “There’s got to be a happy medium.”

Commissioners determine which areas are suitable for the highest densities.

Palisades neighborhood leader Robbi Castleberry said she wants to see wild places preserved, especially those near the county’s urban areas.

Growing up in West Spokane she appreciated the ability to explore caves, watch deer and ride horses.

“These things – open spaces, clear air, a place to stretch – are a very basic necessity to people in Spokane County,” Castleberry said.

Both Castleberry and Mager said they’d like to see the county invest more resources into sub-area planning for neighborhoods to give them the ability to steer their own courses.

“I’d like to see county government and other public agencies begin to pay attention to the citizens who live in their areas. These are the people who work hard, that pay their taxes, that are the backbone of what makes a city or county an attractive place,” she added.