Skate park gets two donations
The new Liberty Lake skate park, which broke ground Saturday, got more attention at Tuesday’s Liberty Lake City Council meeting in the form of two community donations.
Liberty Lake Kiwanis president Bob Schneidmiller gave the council a check for $500. “It’s going to do a lot for our city,” he said. “More than that, it’s going to do a lot for our kids.”
Pat Dockrey of Dockrey Mechanical has spearheaded the effort to build a skate park for years. Tuesday he followed that up by giving the city $5,000 for the park. He said it wouldn’t be right if he and his wife didn’t help fund the park after all the work they did on the project.
“I am speechless,” said Mayor Wendy Van Orman. “This is amazing.”
Council member Odin Langford thanked Dockrey for all the time and effort he put into the park and also for showing local kids how to work with the government to get a project done. “I think we ought to consider naming the park Dockrey Skate Park,” he said.
“I’ll have to decline that,” Dockrey said. “I appreciate it more than you know.”
“I’m going to argue against Pat,” said Schneidmiller, who said he would bring up the proposal at the next Kiwanis meeting.
A large chunk of the meeting was taken up with discussion on a proposed ordinance that would raise fees for planning and building services and public works. The city’s fee schedule was taken entirely from Spokane County in 2001 when the city formed and the fees haven’t been changed since, said planning and building manager Amanda Tainio. The new fee schedule is comparable to what the city of Spokane charges.
Council members agreed that the fees needed to be raised, but several objected to how high the raises were.
“We are not affecting homebuilders of single family homes, but we are tampering with commercial in a big way,” said Langford. “I understand the need for cost recovery. This boils down to one thing. Are we helping commercial or are we hurting commercial?”
Drew Benado, a project manager at Greenstone, said his company analyzed the fees other cities in the area charge. “It definitely went toward the higher end, which is the city of Spokane,” he said. “You’re much more efficient.”
He said that Spokane County fees are much lower. “It seems like what happened is you went to the drastic end.”
Edie Streicher of the Spokane Homebuilders Association called the increases “excessive.” “The proposed fee increases are extreme,” she said. “We think the increase will limit future development.”
Council member Patrick Jenkins said that maybe “throttling back” growth wasn’t such a bad idea. “This isn’t Airway Heights,” he said. “This isn’t Spokane. I think this is a very responsible position. It’s really market pricing. That’s what we’re going for.”
Langford said there should be increases, but nothing so steep. “That’s not the way to get it done,” he said. “I think there’s a better way to get this accomplished.”
Crump made a motion to table the issue until the next council meeting, which was approved on a 3-2 vote. Council members Jenkins and Neal Olander voted against it. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too, on this one,” Crump said. “There will be some increases.”
In other business, the council has only received one application for the council seat left vacant by the resignation of Brian Sayrs. Planning commissioner Dan Dunn has submitted his paperwork and there is one other person considering it, said community planning director Doug Smith. Applications are being accepted until Friday. The council will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday to interview the candidates and make a selection. If Dunn is the only candidate, there will not be a special meeting.