Longer Valley couplet step closer to reality

The city of Spokane Valley moved closer Thursday to obtaining a four-mile strip that could be used to complete the Sprague-Appleway couplet.

City and county elected officials agreed during a joint meeting that the final kinks in a handover agreement for the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad land could be ironed out by lawyers. After that, the agreement will go to the City Council and county commission separately for final approval.

“I think we were close on the language,” county Commissioner Todd Mielke said at the meeting.

Under the current draft, the city would assume the liability for any unseen environmental problems associated with the land, just as the county did when it received the property from the railroad.

One of the more contentious items on Thursday’s agenda regarded joint planning agreements for newly subdivided areas just outside city limits.

Spokane Valley recently threatened to sue the county over housing developments approved in the Turtle Creek area that officials say will overload intersections inside the city. The council decided not to sue after discussions on the agreement started between city and county planners.

At Thursday’s meeting, council members argued for a prompt start to joint planning negotiations. But commissioners said a countywide committee of elected officials should develop an agreement that can be mirrored in joint planning areas throughout the county. That group meets again in November.

“We can study this thing to death and not get anything done,” said Councilman Rich Munson, who sits on the committee. He asked that a date be set for the agreement’s completion.

The county commissioners said the agreement first should be presented to the other jurisdictions on the committee, which include other cities, water districts and fire districts.

Commissioner Mark Richard also was concerned that an agreement might indicate that joint planning areas will inevitably be annexed into cities.

“It is very important for this board of commissioners that we are not tagging joint planning with future annexation,” he said.

The scope of planning agreements, how to pay for the impact of more traffic and other issues also need to be ironed out, commissioners said.

Another joint city-county meeting will take place in October to work on the wording of an agreement just for the Turtle Creek area. The committee of elected officials will continue to look at joint planning countywide.