City Proposals Return To Ballot It’s The Fourth Try At Forming New Valley Cities This Decade

Proposals to incorporate cities in the Spokane Valley will be back on the ballot next month, the fourth attempt at forming cities this decade.

Backers of two separate efforts hope to incorporate Evergreen, a proposed city of about 15,000 people, and Opportunity, a city that 19,000 residents would call home.

Residents within those cities will vote on the proposals Feb. 4. To pass, each city must receive 50 percent approval plus one vote.

Evergreen, an eight-square-mile area, would be bounded by the Spokane River on the north, 24th Avenue on the south, Evergreen Road on the west and Barker Road on the east.

Opportunity, a six-square-mile area, would be bounded by Interstate 90 on the north, 16th Avenue on the south, Argonne Road on the west and Evergreen Road on the east.

Successful incorporation of Evergreen and Opportunity would rip a large chunk of the Valley’s main commercial strip from the county’s tax rolls.

What that would mean to residents around the rest of Spokane County is unclear, county officials said. While studies about potential impacts have been conducted prior to larger, past incorporation attempts, little planning has been done this time.

Any impacts will not be determined until after voters approve or reject Evergreen and Opportunity, county commissioners said.

For residents of the suburban North Side, South Side and West Plains, that means waiting to see how revenue losses affect services, such as how often their streets are plowed and swept.

Rural areas also will have to wait to see if successful incorporation of the two cities will affect the amount of money budgeted for parks and maintaining roads in those areas.

County officials are hoping it will not. Contracts to provide services to the proposed cities could help offset losses in tax revenue, they said.

“They still have to have services,” said Commissioner John Roskelley. “We can provide those services as we have, but it will cost them the same as the other citizens of the county.”

Backers of Evergreen and Opportunity, both of which would be governed by a mayor and seven-member city council, claim the cities would have plenty of money to provide services to residents.

Once the Spokane Valley Mall opens next summer, Evergreen proponents estimate they will reel in as much as $12 million in tax money that previously would have been pocketed by the county.

Opportunity expects sales tax and shared revenues to approach $5 million. Leaders of the incorporation attempt have not estimated property tax revenue.

Proponents have repeatedly promised to recommend that members of the city councils vote to annex to Fire District No. 1 and Spokane County library district. They also plan to push council members to contract with the county to provide police protection, road maintenance and water and sewer service.

The city councils of the proposed cities would have the final say on how those services should be provided.

“We’re prepared to contract whatever level of service they want,” said Dennis Scott, county director of public works.

Any contracts between the county and the proposed cities would only cover the cost of providing services and not bring in additional revenue, Scott said.

The current incorporation proposals are the same ones plucked from the ballot weeks before an election last spring.

Proponents, angered by the county auditor’s late decision to hold a mailin election, appealed the state Boundary Review Board’s final boundary decision five weeks before the election was to be held, halting the vote. They rescinded the appeal last November, clearing the way for next month’s vote on Evergreen and Opportunity.

Critics of the cities say the proposals do not provide enough detail about how Evergreen and Opportunity plan to budget their costs. They also worry incorporating the two cities would divide the Valley.

“I don’t think things have really changed,” said Dewey Strauss, who is leading a group opposing the two cities. “I’m not particularly unhappy with the present form of government.”

It’s time for a change, incorporation proponents fire back.

“We think some form of Valley incorporation is better than none,” said Ed Meadows, Opportunity’s chief proponent.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Proposed cities incorporation

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: INCORPORATION HISTORY November 1990 - Residents in 70 precincts overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have formed Chief Joseph, a Valleywide city of 90,000 people. The 33.7 percent approval rate kept incorporation off the ballot for three years. April 1994 - Support for a Valleywide effort to form Spokane Valley, a proposed city of 76,000 people, was better, but not good enough. Voters again defeated the incorporation plan, although support rose to 44.3 percent. May 1995 - Weary voters soundly rejected a third Valleywide incorporation effort. This proposal sought to form Spokane Valley, a city of 73,000 people, but drew only 41.3 percent approval from voters. May 1996 - After failing on three Valleywide attempts at forming cities, incorporation backers proposed forming five smaller cities. Two, Evergreen and Opportunity, garnered enough signatures on petitions to go to a vote. However, in a flap over how voters would be polled, proponents of the two separate cities appealed the state Boundary Review Board’s final boundary decision, derailing the election five weeks before it was to take place. - Brian Coddington, staff writer