Spokane Plan Commission recommends cutting routine newspaper notices in SMC 17G, asks city to notify public

The Spokane Plan Commission on Oct. 8 voted unanimously to recommend that City Council update Spokane Municipal Code chapter 17G to consolidate public-notice procedures, reduce several newspaper notice requirements and clarify how the city notifies neighborhood councils and nearby property owners.

The recommendation, which the commission approved 7-0 with two members absent, would remove routine newspaper notice for most development-code amendments and comprehensive-plan amendments, limit newspaper notice for plats to the single notice required under state law, and codify a set of standard notice types and timing in a new table in the code.

Planner Spencer Gardner, who presented the proposed code changes virtually, said the city found duplicate and inconsistent noticing rules scattered across code sections and that the current newspaper notice requirements often exceed state law. "The cost of noticing in the newspaper is something that we've been taking a look at," Gardner said, adding that a single…