Valley to fight land annexation

The Spokane Valley City Council plans to fight Liberty Lake’s attempt to annex 650 acres that sit between the two cities.

The council asked its staff at Tuesday’s meeting to file a formal objection before an Oct. 11 hearing on the annexation – even though the majority of the owners of that land want to join the city of Liberty Lake.

“If they take that corridor, they could prevent us from (growing) eastward,” Councilman Dick Denenny said after the meeting.

Spokane Valley officials have been reluctant to say that they’ve disputed Liberty Lake’s growth plans because of their own hopes to snatch that property.

But when asked Tuesday if he wanted the land, Denenny replied, “Yeah, I might.”

Deputy Mayor Diana Wilhite added, “We’re willing to share.”

The property is mostly north of Interstate 90, with a small area south of the freeway.

Denenny said he worries Liberty Lake eventually could annex the land north and south of there, preventing Spokane Valley from adding the unincorporated part of the Greenacres neighborhood and other areas to its east end.

The majority of the 160 landowners in the 650-acre area signed a petition last spring stating they wanted to become part of Liberty Lake.

While some of the property is residential, its commercial portion would add to the tax base of the city that annexes it.

Centennial Properties Inc., which is owned by The Spokesman-Review’s parent company, Cowles Publishing, holds much of the land and supports annexation by Liberty Lake.

On July 20, the Liberty Lake City Council formally said it intended to annex the property.

Two weeks later, it “invoked jurisdiction,” or asked the Spokane County Boundary Review Board to study the proposal and determine whether it was legal – a proactive step usually made by a citizen or group opposed to the annexation.

Although a vote of property owners is required to move annexations forward, the board ultimately decides whether boundaries can be changed.

But as the Boundary Review Board studies the proposed annexation, it can’t ignore one fact: Liberty Lake’s comprehensive land-use plan doesn’t comply with the Washington state Growth Management Act.

Last spring, the Eastern Washington board that oversees compliance with the GMA ruled that Liberty Lake’s 20-year plan for growth was written using unofficial population estimates and didn’t plan properly for future capital facilities needs, such as the sewer system.

It’s on those grounds that Spokane Valley plans to fight the annexation.

If the Boundary Review Board doesn’t approve the annexation, Liberty Lake will have to wait a year before trying again.

Doug Smith, Liberty Lake’s planning director, said his city’s comprehensive plan problems are rooted in the unofficial population projection.

After waiting for two years, the city recently received population projections and expects the county commissioners to accept those figures soon, making them official, he said.

Bringing the comprehensive plan into compliance after that will be easy, Smith said.

Also, for Spokane Valley to annex that land or parts of it, it’d have to collect the signatures of the same property owners who already agreed to join Liberty Lake.

“The citizens from that area would have to have a change of heart,” Smith said.