Plan commission looks at proposed land-use changes

A Planning Commission recommendation to approve nine of 15 proposed changes in the Spokane County comprehensive land-use plan, including one to revive a Colbert-area restaurant, will go before county commissioners Tuesday.

Commissioners could adopt the recommendations or schedule a public hearing to consider alternatives.

The recommended denials include hotly contested proposals to convert Peone Prairie agricultural land to residential use.

Among the recommendations for approval is a zone change that would allow the McGlade’s Market restaurant to reopen at the corner of Yale and Day-Mt. Spokane roads if an environmental review survives an appeal.

Owners Shawn and Theresa Gabel closed the restaurant in January after county planning officials ruled they went too far in converting a fruit-stand café into a restaurant with a liquor license.

Limited food service was a grandfathered, non-conforming use when the Gabels purchased the fruit stand in November 2004. Changes in the operation and menu weren’t permitted.

Several neighbors complained that county officials improperly allowed previous owners to expand the fruit stand and allowed the Gabels to renovate the business so much that it bore no resemblance to the 3,024-square-foot pole building that was approved in 1984.

County Hearing Examiner Michael Dempsey denied a conditional-use permit in April 2006 to keep the restaurant open. Dempsey said he couldn’t correct county officials’ previous mistakes, but a 300-square-foot fruit stand is all that ever should have been allowed under the 4.4-acre site’s original agricultural zoning.

Planning commissioners cited the property’s history of commercial use in its recommendation to change the existing “urban reserve” zoning to “limited development area commercial.” Also, commissioners said they received a large amount of testimony, and most of it “supported the compatibility of the existing use with the neighborhood.”

Here are the Planning Commission’s other recommendations:

“Deny converting four large tracts from “rural conservation,” where 20-acre lots are the norm to protect environmentally sensitive areas, to “rural traditional,” which permits natural-resource-based industries and 10-acre lots.

The sites are 160 acres north of Airway Heights, west of Hayford Road; 260 acres along Jacobs Road north of Airway Heights; 160 acres near Nelson Road and Mt. Spokane State Park; 46.3 acres south of Deer Park, at the intersection of Perry and Dennison-Chattaroy roads.

“Deny converting 243.2 acres on Peone Prairie, southeast of the intersection of Peone and Fairview roads, from “small tract agricultural” and “rural traditional” to “rural-5.” Planning commissioners said the “rural-5” zone is for areas that already have a pattern of houses on five-acre lots.

“For the same reason, deny conversion of 80 acres on Peone Prairie, north of Peone Road and west of Nelson Road, from “small-tract agricultural” to “rural-5.”

“Approve Spokane Rock Products’ request to rezone 131 acres, east of the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Eloika Lake Road, from “rural conservation” to “mineral land.”

“Approve rezoning 5.6 acres on Half Moon Prairie, northeast of the intersection of U.S. Highway 395 and Russell Road, from “small tract agricultural” to “limited development area commercial.” The area has been used commercially since the 1970s.

“Approve rezoning 13 acres at the northeast corner of Highway 395 and Little Spokane Drive, from “low-density residential” to “high-density residential.”

“Approve rezoning 7.7 acres west of Spokane, south of Highway 2 and east of Geiger Boulevard, from “low-density residential” to “light industrial.”

“Approve rezoning 2.9 acres west of Spokane, northwest of the intersection of Geiger Boulevard and Lewis Street, from “community commercial” to “regional commercial.”

“Approve rezoning 10 acres north of Spokane Valley, southwest of Argonne Road and Millview Drive, from “low-density residential” to “medium-density residential.”

“Approve rezoning 15 acres southeast of Regal Street and 53rd Avenue from “low-density residential” to “mixed-use residential” and “medium-density residential.”

“Approve rezoning 1.6 acres northwest of Hastings Road and Dakota Street from “low-density residential” to “high-density residential.”