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Council interviews Kyle Metz for Plan Commission seat; applicant emphasizes infill, parking reform and developer incubator idea
Summary
The Spokane City Council interviewed Kyle Metz for a Plan Commission appointment; Metz, an architect and long-time Spokane resident, told the council he supports loosening some height limits, reducing parking minimums and creating an incubator for small infill developers.
The Spokane City Council conducted an interview for a volunteer seat on the Plan Commission with applicant Kyle Metz.
Metz introduced himself as a long-term Spokane resident and an architect. He told the council he is motivated “to hopefully, leaving Spokane better than I find it” and applied to serve on the Plan Commission as a way to influence land-use decisions.
On height limits, Metz said he often encounters projects constrained by zone height limits and argued the city should require councils and staff to justify height limits rather than default to the most restrictive limits. “I think... we should be seeking to justify why we need a height limit, and that if there's not a justification, then we should be as unrestricted as possible,” he said.
On parking, Metz expressed support for removing mandatory parking minimums and welcomed the city's use of parking maximums. He said market forces should inform parking quantities and emphasized coordinating with Spokane Transit Authority and active-transportation investments to reduce neighborhood parking impacts.
He proposed an “infill and missing middle incubator” to help smaller-scale developers overcome knowledge and financing gaps that favor larger developers, saying small projects face greater hurdles to secure financing and technical assistance.
Council members asked additional questions on neighborhood retail, planning balance, and examples of well-planned cities; Metz cited the Spokesman-Review tower among Spokane buildings he favored and referenced Houston as an interesting case study of fewer planning restrictions producing mixed outcomes.
The interview concluded without a vote recorded in this portion of the transcript; staff said nothing else would be required from Metz pending council action on the appointment.
