Airway Heights allows petition
The Spokane Tribe of Indians wants to get in on the economic growth in Airway Heights.
At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Airway Heights unanimously passed a resolution allowing the tribe to circulate a petition for annexation of its 145 acres of undeveloped property on the west edge of town.
The land is north of and adjacent to U.S. Highway 2 and west of and adjacent to Craig Road, which is outside the city limits but within the Urban Development Area. It does not have city water, sewer and emergency services.
The property is exempt from property taxes because it is tribal-owned. The land also will be exempt from local and federal environmental regulations and building permits.
If annexed, the property would become part of the city, which would provide sewer and water services.
The approval came after a one-hour public hearing, followed by an executive session that lasted into the night.
Ronald “Buzz” Gutierrez, a businessman and member of the Spokane Tribe, told the council only that the land would be used for economic development. He would not give specifics as to whether a casino is in the works, which would make Airway Heights a two-casino town.
“I have no feeling on that,” Gutierrez said after the hearing. “You don’t build something that’s not going to work. You have to do your studies.”
Some citizens who spoke worried that their city of 4,590 residents is being taken over by entrepreneurs who can build tax-exempt businesses that will drive out mom-and-pop stores.
The Kalispel Tribe opened the Northern Quest Casino on a 40-acre toehold in December 2000. It is putting the finishing touches on a $12 million, 59,000-square foot expansion that will open Sept. 26.
The Kalispel Tribe next plans to develop a shopping mall with big-box stores. Some citizens worry that the tribal expansions threaten the city’s control of its economic future.
City Manager Chuck Freeman said the Spokane Tribe came to the city a year ago with the annexation request.
“We’re a heck of a lot smarter today,” said Freeman, who was not city manager when the Kalispel Tribe began development proceedings. “We have institutional knowledge we didn’t have then.”
Freeman explained the city will negotiate a fee agreement with the Spokane Tribe in lieu of taxes.
“We will talk contracts for use of fire and police services, utilities,” Freeman said. “The council made it very clear, if we do not reach an agreement — and it will be a reasonable agreement — with them, the deal is done and we will not annex it.”
Art Clum, a 10th Avenue resident, suggested the council appoint a citizens committee to examine the annexation proposal.
“We were burned once in our dealings with trust lands, and we may have no control over some future developments involving them,” Clum said during the hearing. “But in this case we have a choice. We need to move very slowly, carefully and deliberately and ask ourselves, ‘Is this really in our best interest?’ “
The next step for the tribe is to gather signatures for a petition that must be signed by owners of the majority of the acreage and the majority of the registered voters in the proposed annexation area. The petition will be reviewed by the Spokane County Boundary Review Board.
The tribal land is divided into two parcels. The two adjacent private-parcel owners are Bill Berry, who owns 3.9 acres on the northwest corner of Highway 2 and Craig Road, and Mike Johnson of Airway LLC, who owns 3.4 acres next to Berry’s.
The businesses both use wells.
Berry, who owns a Tesoro station and attended the meeting, has been working on getting annexed into the city but told the council he is neither for nor against the annexation. However, he worries that putting in city water will cost him $100,000, plus $40,000 for a hookup.
If one of the two doesn’t sign the petition, the process still will move forward because the Spokane Tribe is the majority owner of the acreage. The petition hinges on land ownership rather than registered voters because neither Berry nor Johnson are registered to vote at the affected land.