Minnehaha residents seek city’s approval for neighborhood council

Residents of the Minnehaha Neighborhood of northeast Spokane are seeking to establish a new neighborhood council in an area north of the Spokane River near Cooper Elementary School.

Spokane City Council members are scheduled to consider the new council at the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.

The meeting was moved from Monday to Tuesday to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.

In addition to considering the Minnehaha neighborhood council, the City Council will hear from members of downtown-area neighborhood councils and COPS groups in its annual town hall meeting for central-area neighborhoods.

If Minnehaha wins approval as a neighborhood council, it would become the 27th organized neighborhood council or association in the city.

Greg Hecht, director of neighborhood services, said residents in the area were sent a mailing notifying them of the proposal. He said a small section of the neighborhood near Smith and Illinois will continue to be eligible for community development block grant funds from the federal government.

The neighborhood council proponents have already established a membership, selected officers and voted on bylaws, he said.

The proposed neighborhood council area is bounded on the north by Garnet Avenue, on the east by the city limits near Havana Street, on the south by the Spokane River and on the west by Smith Street, Illinois Avenue and the line extending north from Greene Street at Grace Avenue.

In other neighborhood action, the council is being asked on Monday to approve a boundary change between the Balboa/South Indian Trail Neighborhood and the Five Mile Prairie Neighborhood. An area known as East Bluff located between Austin and Cedar roads would be moved into the Five Mile Neighborhood.