Spokane County outlines EIS alternatives for urban growth area, sets public outreach schedule

Spokane County staff told the county's steering committee on Sept. 17 that the county is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement to guide a periodic update of the comprehensive plan and to recommend how the county should accommodate projected growth over the next 20 years. "We are in the midst of working on alternatives for the EIS, and those alternatives are going to help guide the growth within the existing urban growth area boundaries as well as potential, adjustments to that UGA boundary," said Scott Chesney, county planning staff.

Why it matters: the county must show where it will accommodate projected new residents and how capital facilities, transportation and public services would be provided. The choice between adding land to the urban growth area (UGA) or planning for higher densities inside existing boundaries affects housing supply, farm and resource lands, water systems and fire and school capacity across Spokane County.

County staff described three bookend alternatives required for the EIS: a required "no growth" alternative for analysis; an alternative that keeps existing UGA boundaries and seeks large portions of the county's housing allocation through density and intensity changes; and an alternative that allows selective UGA boundary adjustments to preserve more of the county's historic single-family development patterns (roughly 4.5 to 5 units per acre) while permitting mixed-use, neighborhood-style development. Chesney said the county must be able to show how each option would accommodate roughly 100,000 new residents in the planning horizon and that, on the county side alone, accommodating that growth via density would account for an estimated 23,000 to 25,000 units.

Staff identified roughly 1,600 to 1,700 acres of land under consideration…