City growth must be done sensibly

For years now, the biggest barrier between the city of Spokane and growth has been political timidity. As a discussion topic, annexation was a non-starter for fear of provoking other governments, primarily Spokane County.

The leadership picture at City Hall is changing, however, raising hopes that the inertia may be ending. New Mayor Dennis Hession is one who is eager to move ahead on two fronts:

“The urbanized area north of Francis and west of Division is an immediate target. In return for the extension of city utilities, many of the property owners there have already signed covenants that ease the path to annexation. Backed by that and the state Growth Management Act, which expects cities to absorb urbanized areas, the city is poised to move quickly.

“Numerous areas adjoining the city, including West Plains land out to and surrounding the airport, would lend themselves to annexation under the considerations spelled out in the Growth Management Act. Hession proposes studies and discussions leading to a strategic annexation plan, including a timetable to accomplish it.

A change of heart at City Hall does not mean attitudes at the courthouse are likely to soften, however, so the city can anticipate sharp county resistance. Understandably so. A substantial shift in tax bases works from the city’s standpoint because it improves the budget picture, but what about the county?

In its approach, the city obviously needs to respect the needs of all entities involved – not only the county but also fire, water and other special service districts – for a fair outcome.

On a limited scale, the city has shown itself able to do just that, reaching friendly settlements with fire and library districts over previous, smaller annexations. On an annexation of this magnitude, however, the bar will be higher.

If the process is handled well, the outcome will benefit the entire county, because governmental duplications will be minimized and service delivery will be consolidated into more efficient structures. Revenue-sharing agreements and joint planning relationships can be used to keep service-delivery responsibilities in balance with revenue collections.

It won’t be easy. Annexation issues are inherently challenging, as evidenced in the past week in Clark County where what had been extolled as a model of city-county cooperation imploded over the city of Vancouver’s plans to annex 17,000 acres with 65,000 people.

Here in Spokane County, population and development patterns, as well as the Growth Management Act, support the city’s growth aspirations. As the community’s elected representatives move forward, the best result will be achieved if the city is reasonable and the county is realistic.