Spokane Valley approves traffic study for Painted Hills if developer meets requirements

As water drained from the flooding Chester Creek nearby, neighbors listened to representatives from Whipple Consulting Engineers give a brief traffic impact presentation about the proposed Painted Hills Development last Wednesday.

The city of Spokane Valley has granted the developer traffic concurrency, if the developer meets certain conditions spelled out in the approval.

“That means that our streets can handle the traffic with some mitigation,” said Spokane Valley senior planner Lori Barlow.

Painted Hills is on about 100 acres northeast of the intersection of Dishman-Mica Road and Thorpe Road.

Owners Dave Black of Black Realty Inc. and Bryan Walker, a broker with NAI Black, propose building about 580 housing units on the former golf course: 228 apartments, 206 single-family homes, 52 ranchers and 40 estate homes, plus seeking permission to add 52 loft units on top of a commercial development that will face Dishman-Mica Road.

Among those conditions are construction of southbound left turn lanes on Dishman-Mica Road at the main entrance to the project, and also at the intersection with Thorpe Road.

The project also must construct “one new public local access street that intersects Dishman-Mica Road and two new public local access streets that intersect Madison Road.”

Other area intersections also must be improved by the developer, including a northbound right turn lane on Pines Road, before the city will issue a certificate of occupancy to the 400th unit of the development.

A full list of requirements are available at www.spokanevalley.org under the Painted Hills section.

Neighbor Frank Cobb called the hourlong meeting “a waste of time” because residents weren’t allowed to ask any other questions than those pertaining to traffic.

Neighbors have frequently protested the project because they say it will bring too much traffic into the area, and because Painted Hills is a flood plain.

Cobb and other neighbors of the former Painted Hills Golf Course formed the Painted Hills Preservation Association in response to the development. The group raised money and hired lawyers last year but has made few public statements.

Barlow said the next step is the environmental impact review, expected within a couple of weeks.

“That and the public hearing are the two next big steps in the process,” Barlow said.