Council approves neighborhood land-use funding

The Spokane City Council has agreed to increase funding for a new round of neighborhood land-use planning.

On Monday, the council approved an emergency budget ordinance that sets aside $500,000 for new land-use and zoning plans that take into account block-by-block details of what uses are appropriate and where.

A growth management land-use plan initially adopted in 2001 did not include detailed neighborhood planning, said Councilman Al French.

“We are six years behind,” he said. “This should have happened in 2001, 2002.”

Budget cuts earlier this decade limited the amount of staff available for city planning, so the effort to redesign neighborhood plans was shelved in favor of work on several individual commercial centers across the city.

“None of our fine-tuning efforts have taken place,” French said.

The funding approved Monday night came after the Community Assembly of Neighborhood Councils approved a resolution earlier this summer calling for the use of a portion of the city’s current budget surplus as a one-time expenditure for planning, said Leroy Eadie, acting planning director.

He said details about how the money will be spent have not been worked out, but city staff intends to work with neighborhood representatives to come up with a program.

The city could hire temporary staff, select a consultant or work with the Washington State University Interdisciplinary Design Institute to develop the plans, Eadie said. The city is going to insist on strong financial controls on any fund disbursements, he said.

Neighborhood representatives have asked that the funds be distributed to all of the city’s 27 organized neighborhoods.

The idea for funding neighborhood planning “has come from the grass roots up,” Eadie said.

French said that some neighborhoods want to revise land-use and zoning over a larger area, while other neighborhoods want to concentrate on improved public amenities such as bike trails, open spaces or street-side features.