The zoning code term is “accident potential zones.” But journalists prefer the more descriptive term: “crash zones.” These zones surround airport runways. There are establishments you wouldn’t want to build too close to an airport’s runways. And not just because of crash potential.

There’s the noise factor, as well as aesthetic considerations. Child-care centers and churches wouldn’t be a good fit, for instance. The Spokane County zoning code prohibits more than a dozen uses of land within accident potential zones, including churches and child-care centers.

As Spokesman-Review reporter Jonathan Brunt reported Thursday, a county planner has filed a whistle-blower complaint against county leaders, accusing them of “providing special favors for developers at the expense of zoning and other rules.” Part of the reason for the complaint is a 100,000-square-foot complex under construction in an accident potential zone of Spokane International Airport. The future headquarters of Ambassadors Group might include an employee child-care center in the future.

The complaint is being investigated, and no one is commenting much on the allegations, citing the ongoing investigation. But news of the complaint provides an opportunity to remind everyone why land surrounding the airport must be preserved or developed only with compatible uses.

The Spokane airport and neighboring Fairchild Air Force Base are key players in the right kind of economic growth for the region. The airport has the potential to grow its passenger and cargo traffic in the coming decades. A third runway would be required to handle this growth. But the Federal Aviation Administration frowns on development that crowds, impedes or is incompatible with airport crash zones.

Inland Northwest business leaders are working hard to attract high-tech and biomedical companies. The people who run those kinds of companies need direct airline connections to get to meetings and conferences and also to ship their products worldwide. The airlines who fly in and out of Spokane don’t yet offer an overwhelming number of direct connections.

Fairchild Air Force Base is vital to the region’s economy for many reasons. Incompatible development threatens the future of Fairchild because bases encroached on by housing and commercial development often get targeted for closure. The reason? No room for the base to grow and expand, and too much potential for conflict with neighboring properties over concerns such as noise and traffic.

Bigger cities made the mistake of surrounding their airports with development that choked off their future. Spokane still has the chance to avoid that fatal civic error.