Board rejects Five Mile plan

A board that oversees land-use decisions in Eastern Washington found that Spokane County was “clearly” wrong to add 229 acres in the Five Mile Prairie neighborhood to its urban growth boundaries, the area where higher density housing is allowed.

The Growth Management Hearings Board for Eastern Washington found that Spokane County failed to adequately prove the need for the land additions through a population or land quantity analysis; that it failed to engage in joint planning with other municipalities to plan for utilities, transportation and other infrastructure; and that it failed to show the changes were consistent with the county’s Comprehensive Plan and other development regulations.

This is the second decision of this type within the past two months saying Spokane County was out of compliance with planning regulations and the Growth Management Act in adding land to the urban growth boundaries. The first decision related to 80 acres added to the urban growth area on Flint Road, near Airway Heights.

“Spokane County is again out of compliance,” the board wrote in its decision. “The amendment enlarging the UGA (Urban Growth Area) was done without the County performing a land quantity analysis other than accepting the one prepared by the potential developers of these properties. There is nothing in the record reflecting an increase in the population of Spokane County higher than that planned for when sizing the original UGA.”

The board gave the county until May 15 to come into compliance with its order. The county appealed the board’s last decision, regarding the Flint Road development, to Superior Court.

“This is an example of how not to do it,” said Rick Eichstaedt, an attorney for appellants Kathy Miotke and the Neighborhood Alliance of Spokane. However, he said, the decision does not necessarily mean that development will not move forward, as some of the land already has been “vested,” or approved for development. Eichstaedt said he hopes the decision will help better land-use planning decisions take place in the future.

“We hope that it will send a message to the county commissioners that they need to base these decisions on adequate information, follow the law and coordinate with their neighbors,” he said.

Commission Chairman Todd Mielke said he had not read the decision yet, but he believes some of the concerns expressed by the board may already have been addressed by plans the county has made since the hearing was held last month. He said the city of Spokane has said it could serve the area with water; both the city and county have adequate sewer capacity for the new developments; and a tentative plan is in place to improve the roads serving the neighborhood.

Regarding the finding that the county didn’t do an adequate land analysis, Mielke said he doesn’t know why an analysis would be dismissed merely because it was done by a developer.

“You have to find a determination that it was inadequate,” he said. The county generally is not going to do that work on its own; it’s going to hire a consultant, he said. “If the landowner contracts for that, unless you find an error in the methodology, I don’t know why you would automatically throw it out, based on who paid the consultant.”

However, Eichstaedt said the law is clear about how land quantity and population analyses are to be done.

“They essentially took a document from the developer and said, ”That’s good enough.’ This is a trend, basically deferring the issue to applicants instead of doing the work themselves. Counties have to show their work. They don’t have any work to show because they didn’t do it.”