Still Time To Change Boundaries
FOR THE RECORD: 10-26-96 Friends of the Little Spokane River are asking Spokane County commissioners to limit development on land surrounding the river. A story about the Growth Management Act in Wednesday’s Spokesman-Review indicated otherwise.
Some want in. Some want out.
But few of the people who have contacted Spokane County planners about urban growth boundaries are completely happy with the proposed locations of the lines.
The boundaries, which can be adjusted every five years, will determine where the county and cities will provide sewers and other services required for urban, commercial and industrial growth in the next 20 years.
Outside the boundaries, larger lots will be required, and residents will be told not to expect as many services.
Spokane County and each of the cities within its boundaries have drawn proposed boundaries. Now all those different sets of lines must be reconciled.
Having missed the deadline established under the state’s Growth Management Act, county and city officials hope to have final boundaries drawn by the end of the year.
County commissioners will have final say on where the boundaries are placed, although their decision can be appealed to a regional growth management hearings board.
People who want to comment about the boundaries should do so now while there’s still a chance to change them, Spokane County officials said. Four meetings are scheduled this week and next to provide opportunities to comment.
“I’m not going to vote on this until I feel the people are informed,” county Commissioner Phil Harris said at a recent meeting.
Developers with land on the West Plains, Valley and North Side have written planners asking that their property be included in the boundaries so housing projects aren’t stopped.
Kaiser Aluminum asked that its land in the Valley and North Side be excluded. That probably would keep the company out of any future incorporation drives since cities can be formed only in areas designated urban.
Kaiser has opposed Valley incorporation efforts that included its Trentwood plant. Company officials said they fear a city would charge higher taxes.
The conservation group Friends of the Little Spokane River requested that much of the land south of that stream be included in the boundaries, saying it would give the county more control over growth there. Actually, placing that land inside the boundaries earmarks it for urban growth.
At Liberty Lake, one group wants land around the lake included in the urban boundaries while another wants it left out. Both say their proposal would best protect the lake.
Curiously, a few homeowners in some of the county’s most crowded neighborhoods have asked to have their yards designated rural.
Commissioner Steve Hasson directed planners to write letters to those homeowners saying, “Thanks for your interest but you’re smack in the middle of (the urban area).”
, DataTimes