PUBLIC LANDS – A public meeting is scheduled this week on a South Hill group’s proposal to reopen a city easement at 44th and Scott to provide neighborhood public access to the bluff trails below High Drive.

Homeowners have gradually encroached and fenced off a 30-foot wide corridor that’s publicly owned, said Jim Wilson, president of the Friends of the Bluff.

Some homeowners in the neighborhood are opposed to the public access, he said. Others support the idea of having hiking or biking access to the bluff trails.

The area has little room for parking, which would help keep it a low-key local access, he said.

“It’s a mile in either direction from this neighborhood around the Rocket Market to get access to the trails,” Wilson said.

The City of Spokane will hold a meeting to hear public input on the proposal at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the cafeteria on the west side of Sacajawea Middle School.

“This is an uphill battle, but the public should never let private property owners take away public access to public land,” he said.

Maps showing the access are on the web, friendsofthebluff.org.

Update on restoration of illegal road on the bluff

Spokane Parks officials and Avista have turned town a landowner request to put off restoring to a natural state the land illegally bulldozed for a road on the South Hill bluff. Workers are restoring the grade.

Avista officials said they want to take advantage of an unusually wet spring that would make restoring native vegetation easier. They also want to reseed before noxious weeds take over.

The road was bulldozed over property owned by the city as well as into a 30-acre inholding owned by Bracher Properties LLC of Ketchum, Idaho. Attorneys for the Brachers asked to have the work postponed until fall when larger trees could be replanted with higher success.

Contractors for the city and Avista said that with no irrigation available, planting a higher number of small trees would be more successful than planting large trees.

The road was built to aid construction of a First Tee par-three golf course, which has been put on hold, city officials say.

Avista also wanted the road to enable upgrades to the powerlines through the area. Avista spokesman Bruce Howard said the power poles still need to be replaced starting this fall, but the company is exploring other options to access the lines, including helicopters.

At a May 8 public meeting, officials from Avista and City Parks were asked who gave the contractor the go-ahead to build the road. They declined to respond.

They also said the work underway would be limited to restoration and would not include any improvements to the public area as, say, contrition for building the illegal road.

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