Meeting will focus on urban growth
Spokane Valley will hold a public meeting this week on possible additions to the urban growth areas surrounding the city.
From 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, the city will hold an open house at City Hall, 11707 E. Sprague, for people with questions about development, annexations and other issues concerning urban growth areas.
Under the state’s Growth Management Act, the county designates which rural areas will be open to development at city densities. Spokane County estimates that Spokane Valley and subdivisions on its fringes will grow by 33,000 residents in the next 20 years. Only 21,000 can be accommodated within city limits, city planners say, so the county is looking to develop more open land around the city.
Visit www.spokesman review.com/blogs/valley/ to view a map of areas where developers have requested that land be included in urban growth areas.
– Peter Barnes
Sign committee members named
Spokane Valley Mayor Diana Wilhite chose the owners of the Green Thumb Nursery and Jennifer’s Auto Sales to fill two newly created positions on the city’s sign committee.
Nursery owner Nancy Nishimura will represent small-business owners, and Jennifer Johnson will represent car dealers on the advisory board.
The City Council confirmed Wilhite’s selection at Tuesday’s meeting. It decided to expand the committee to nine members and re-evaluate sign regulations earlier this year, after criticism from Sprague business owners when the city began enforcing parts of the sign code it inherited from the county.
According to their applications, Nishimura started working at the nursery in 1984 and was involved in a push to crack down on perpetual garage sales. Johnson has owned Jennifer’s – just up Sprague from Green Thumb – since 1998 and has held leadership positions in state auto-dealer associations.
– Peter Barnes
Spokane
Sixth cat found killed, mutilated
A paper carrier in northwest Spokane on Sunday found a mutilated cat – the sixth in a series of gruesome discoveries this summer that has prompted an animal care society to offer a reward for information about the crimes.
The Humane Society of the United States is offering up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the slayings. SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. has received calls, but nothing that has led to a suspect, said Ken Trambitas, director of field services for the Humane Society facility.
Like the other animals, the cat found Sunday at 3200 W. Monticello Place was cut in half, with only the rear portion remaining. Little blood was found near or around the medium-haired black and white female, indicating that it was killed elsewhere and placed in the street, Trambitas said.
Five other cat killings have been reported since July 4 in the area east of Riverside State Park near Albi Stadium. Investigators haven’t identified any of the cats’ owners, Trambitas said.
He said there is no characteristic pattern to the killings.
Anyone with information should call SpokAnimal at (509) 534-8133.
– Parker Howell