Temporary zoning of large lots likely to be extended

The Spokane Valley City Council will again decide whether temporary zoning that preserves large lots in the Ponderosa and Rotchford Acres neighborhoods should be extended for another six months following a public hearing at Tuesday’s meeting.

“They wanted to show their support so they all came,” Spokane Valley Mayor Diana Wilhite said of a large group of neighbors who attended the meeting.

This spring will mark three years since residents first asked the city to maintain expansive lots in the two neighborhoods after an earlier change to Spokane County’s comprehensive plan would have allowed them to be subdivided into more traditional city lots.

The City Council placed interim zoning on the areas that forbid development denser than one house per acre until the city could write a comprehensive plan of its own.

Wilhite said she thinks it is likely the council will pass another extension of the temporary zoning at a future meeting. The city finished its plan last year but is currently in the process of rewriting the development regulations that enact it.

In other planning news, the city will hold a meeting next week to present recommendations for street design and other elements of a plan to redevelop Sprague Avenue and Appleway Boulevard. It will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Decades Meeting Place and Banquet Room next to Rosauers at Sprague and University.

From 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, the city will hold an open house at the Park Place Retirement Community, 601 S. Park Road, to present information on a project to improve drainage in the Beverly Hills neighborhood.

Finally, from 6 to 7 p.m. next Thursday the city will hold its Conversation with the Community in the Ponderosa Elementary School Library. The quarterly meetings allow residents to meet members of Spokane Valley’s City Council and staff and discuss issues facing the city.