Spokane won’t look particularly different on April 1, but it will be different. The change will be conspicuous only on the map, where political boundaries are evident.

Driving north along Division Street, motorists passing Franklin Avenue will hardly notice that they are no longer leaving the city – just as, for years, they have failed to notice that they were leaving the city.

But thanks to a series of decisions by the Spokane City Council and the Board of Spokane County Commissioners, a long-standing annexation dispute is set to be resolved in a manner that finally reflects common sense. The 120 affected acres will be part of the city in fact as well as appearance. The commercial property, unarguably urban in nature, will fall under the governance of an urban entity, as called for by the state Growth Management Act.

Years of population growth have expanded the residential and commercial density associated with a city well beyond Spokane’s historic city limits. That evolution was instrumental in the incorporation of Spokane Valley and in the southward crawl of the city limits along Moran Prairie.

But the long-envisioned annexation of the North Division property has been contentious primarily because of the impact it has on the respective tax bases of the county, which loses the benefit of brisk commercial activity there.

The gains and losses need to be kept in perspective, though. As the city gains tax revenues, it also assumes costs and responsibilities for municipal services. In addition, for two years the city and county will share sales taxes collected from businesses in the annexed area. And the city agreed long ago to protect rural Fire District 9 from loss of property tax base due to annexation. This change is no windfall for the city.

Population growth will continue, of course, and the land-use challenges that go with it will force further annexation decisions. It would simplify matters to consolidate local governments into one entity, but that opportunity was missed several years ago. Nevertheless, city and county officials must find more expeditious ways of resolving overlapping claims.

Help may be on the horizon.

A report released last month by the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development acknowledges the financial limits that hamper counties like Spokane County, the largest non-charter county in the state. The report encourages more interlocal agreements for providing services. It also advocates an easier process for establishing home-rule charters, a move that could help county commissioners modernize their own governmental structure.

Meanwhile the state Boundary Review Board for Spokane County is studying ways to achieve more collaboration in planning by local governments.

The need for annexation won’t be eliminated, but the more that intergovernmental dueling can be avoided – preferably using a regional approach – the better all residents’ interests will be addressed.