Park is all ‘open space’

In a letter to the editor published in last Sunday’s S-R, Ed Hadley properly points out the Washington law that controls so-called Conservation Futures land acquisitions by counties. But his conclusions that the law (RCW 84.34) prohibits Spokane County from using Conservation Futures funds to purchase the YMCA site, which sits inside Riverfront Park in the city of Spokane, is mistaken.

Washington’s Conservation Futures law provides for the acquisition of “open space land” in order to, among other things, “assure the use and enjoyment of natural resources and scenic beauty for the economic and social well-being of the state and its citizens.” (RCW 84.34.010)

The law’s definition of “open space land” (at RCW 84.34.020) includes the following: “(1) ‘Open space land’ means (a) any land area so designated by an official comprehensive land use plan adopted by any city or county and zoned accordingly.”

In fact, all of the land in Riverfront Park is designated in Spokane’s comprehensive plan as open space. Spokane does not implement a zoning category called open space. In the city’s zoning schema, “open space” is a use, and this use is not prohibited in the zoning category assigned to Riverfront Park land, Central Business District/North (CBD-6).

Paul Kropp

Spokane