City may limit membership on councils

The Spokane City Council is considering an ordinance that would limit neighborhood council membership to city residents only.

Councilman Al French said he is proposing the measure to provide city residents in five neighborhoods greater ability to deal with city government issues.

When the neighborhood council system was formed in the 1990s, the city opened the councils to county residents in locations where neighborhoods straddled the city-county line.

Four councils currently operate as city-county entities. They are Hillyard, Moran Prairie, Thorpe-Westwood, North Indian Trail and Five Mile Prairie.

“What I am trying to do is get our tax dollars focused on city residents,” French said Monday.

The proposed ordinance comes up for public testimony and a possible vote on Monday during the council’s regular 6 p.m. legislative session.

Neighborhood councils were originally allowed to include areas outside the city because the city and county were expecting to work jointly on land-use plans in those areas just outside city limits, French said. However, joint planning never occurred, so the main reason for including county areas in city neighborhood councils has been eliminated, he explained.

In other business, the council on Monday set hearings before the city hearing examiner on the formations of two local improvement districts.

A hearing for street improvements on Hills Court from Fiske Street to Ray Street will be March 22 at 1:30 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall.

A second hearing for paving of the alley between Adams Street and Jefferson Street from Heroy Avenue to Princeton Avenue will be March 22 at 2:30 p.m. also on the second floor of City Hall.