Residents protect neighborhood

To the residents living out on Indian Trail Road, I say “unite.” And be assured you can make a difference.

Our neighborhood also recently faced a request for zoning change. We were blessed with leadership rising up amongst our neighbors who educated themselves, and ultimately all interested residents, on what we could do as a community. We attended informational meetings at a local church, wrote letters, turned out in force to standing-room-only commissioners’ meetings and made our voices heard.

We hired an attorney that helped immensely with the process and kept us informed as to what expectations were realistic. The developer went from not showing up at meetings, stalling by disregarding deadlines and not returning phone calls to realizing we were not going away and began working with us.

In our case, concessions were necessary, but we did make a substantial difference in the end product. They knew the zoning when they purchased the property. We have the right and responsibility to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods.

Claudia Bjorklund

Spokane