City exerts zoning power

Spokane Valley officials properly required a developer to set aside land for future government use without even a down payment, city Hearing Examiner Michael Dempsey has ruled.

Developer Robert “Buster” Heitman this week appealed the Jan. 15 decision to Superior Court, but his attorney is optimistic the dispute will be settled with a sale.

Unless Heitman can sell the land for a future rapid transit line or get Dempsey’s decision overturned, he may be stuck indefinitely with a useless 25-foot strip of land.

However, the Spokane Transit Authority has set aside $5 million to acquire rapid-transit right of way and is negotiating a purchase of Heitman’s land.

Chief Executive Officer Susan Meyer said the STA is negotiating for another parcel elsewhere along a possible route from Spokane to Liberty Lake, but she declined to elaborate.

The Heitman land is sandwiched between a three-acre parcel on Conklin Road that he sold to the Spokane County Library District for a future library and an abandoned railroad right of way.

The right of way eventually is to be used to extend Appleway Boulevard to the east and to accommodate a light rail or bus rapid transit line from Spokane to Liberty Lake. The problem is that the right of way is only 50 feet wide at that point, half of what’s needed.

Public officials say it’s common to use zoning powers to reserve land for future projects. And it may soon become much more common in Spokane Valley, where the proposed Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan calls for new streets to improve traffic flow.

Owners of already-developed land would be prohibited from redeveloping on land the city designates for new streets. City Council members have called for flexibility in implementation of the “future acquisition areas,” but there has been no detailed explanation of how that would be accomplished.

Officials in several jurisdictions say