Chamber votes to oppose I-933

The Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce voted Monday to oppose Initiative 933, which would force governments to either pay landowners for property value lost due to land-use regulations or to waive the restrictions.

“The chamber supports a fair and strong balance between private property rights and land-use planning,” the decision reads. “The chamber does not support I-933 as written because it does not strike such a balance.”

The chamber board members were worried that city and county governments would be “put in a quandary not having sufficient budgets to pay for the cost associated with this type of contested land-use development … and would therefore have to let some projects go through because they weren’t in a position to do anything else,” said Rich Hadley, president and CEO of the Spokane Chamber.

Some estimates put the cost of I-933 at up to $9 billion statewide, Hadley said, adding: “I doubt the proponents of I-933 want that type of expense appropriated against the rest of the citizens.”