Spokane County and its cities and towns have collaborated on a regional review of the Urban Growth Area. We're almost at the finish line when the stage is set for a public hearing tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ assembly room in the lower level of the county Public Works Building, 1036 W. Broadway Ave.

First established in 2001, the Urban Growth Area is the area designated to accommodate projected urban growth. The hearing for the regional review is particularly significant since it will determine the Urban Growth Area’s ability to accommodate growth and development for the next twenty years.

The discussion around projected growth will focus on the impacts to the natural environment and the services and facilities needed including transportation, police, fire, parks, schools, water and sewer.

I went an open house three years ago and I was astounded by the turnout: Mostly developers.

Spokane is in a crucial development stage. As Futurewise's Kitty Klitzke pointed out at the time of the meeting in 2009, “our county’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) already covers over 89 square miles, this is over 2.5 times larger than the City of Paris, France. And Paris we ain’t. Their population, at 2.2 million is almost 5 times the population of Spokane County.”

In the last decade, 25 percent of county growth has occurred in rural spaces while enough land already existed in the urban growth area to accommodate their projections.

All the more reason to focus growth inward as our infrastructure strains due to unsustainable sprawl.

According to Mike Prager, there are a dozen areas proposed for urban expansion that are being sought by individual property owners or developers.

Think about the fiscal impact when he lists out the other costs: New schools are estimated at nearly $800 million in future years. Meanwhile, construction of libraries and parks adds another $74 million for taxpayers as outlines in an environmental impact statement.

To learn more or subit comment if you can't make the hearing go HERE.

Going into this, it feels like the County Commissioners could take Spokane County backwards, finding whatever land they can while waving a flag and saying "olé" to potential buyers.

We're known as "Near Nature Near Perfect." In 2031, let's not be "Vacant City, Sprawling County."

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