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 for removal from or addition to the UGA and highlighted study areas including North Metro (areas near North Francis, the Y and Division, Newport Highway and the MeadWorks area), portions of the valley near Central Valley High School and the West Plains. Staff said some parcels currently mapped in UGAs have little prospect of developing (trailheads and remote parcels) and will be evaluated for removal.

Legal context: county staff warned that recent state and case law is changing how jurisdictions must show implementation details for housing by income band. Chesney cited Growth Management Hearings Board rulings and recent appeals involving Mercer Island and Kitsap County, noting a hearings-board decision over the Mercer Island approach said jurisdictions need more than zoning changes'they need a concrete financial and implementation plan to ensure housing by income band will be delivered. Separately, a Friends of the Sammamish challenge to King County expanded uses for agritourism, breweries and wineries in farm areas moved through the hearings board, the appellate court and the state supreme court; staff said those appeals and rulings are likely to affect how Spokane County treats agricultural and resource lands in the EIS.

Rural issues: staff flagged agritourism (wedding and event venues on farms) and renewable energy as topics in the EIS'noting that courts have recently required stronger protections for agricultural resource lands. The county will also study PFAS/PFOA contamination and other groundwater issues in some study areas'for example the West Plains and areas around Airway Heights, Medical Lake and the 4 Lakes interchange'to understand geotechnical and water-supply constraints and potential mitigations.

Public safety and service capacity: county staff and several participants stressed the need to coordinate early with fire districts and other special districts. Kevin Freeman (county staff) and committee members said the Inland Empire Fire Chiefs is a useful forum to discuss fire-protection and insurance issues that arise when venues and denser neighborhoods are proposed in rural or under-served areas.

Schedule and outreach: staff said the planning commission will be briefed Oct. 2 on the second alternative, and the board of county commissioners will be briefed Nov. 3. The county plans a series of four public outreach events across the county in October, will publish a draft EIS on Dec. 1 and will return to the steering committee on Dec. 10 with additional detail. Staff also said monthly virtual workshops on comprehensive-plan chapters will begin in October (the first Wednesday at noon will focus on rural lands) and continue roughly once a month through May.

Local reports and requests: several city and town staff and property owners spoke during the meeting. Heather (Airway Heights planning staff) said an updated housing-capacity analysis showed the city lacked roughly 1,300 units at 50% of area median income and that Airway Heights is pursuing increased in-city densities, incentive packages and two sites straddling Craig Road that the city asks be included in the county's UGA alternatives. "We still are formally requesting that our written proposal for UGA, residential UGA, still be included in the Spokane County EIS alternatives," Heather said.

Property owners near 5 Mile and in the Lataw Valley also urged inclusion in the UGA, saying utilities and schools are nearby and that small-scale farming in their parcels is no longer economically viable because of road geometry and neighborhood complaints about spray. Lee Trevino and Sean Elston, both property owners, said adjacent infrastructure and existing development make their parcels logical candidates for UGA expansion.

Public commenters from the affordable-housing sector pushed the county and cities to allow small houses on small lots as an affordable homeownership strategy. Jim Frank told the committee, "The real answer to affordable housing for low income bands is to allow small houses on small lots." Daniel Leroy, director of government affairs for Habitat for Humanity Spokane, said the organization focuses on homeownership for households under 80% of AMI and offered to partner with jurisdictions to change development standards. Eric Lyons, chief operations officer at Habitat for Humanity Spokane, said smaller homes and reduced minimum lot sizes would let developers and nonprofits build more starter homes and serve more local families: "Most of the people that live in Spokane qualify for our program and would really like this as a housing option," he said.

What the steering committee directed and what remains: staff framed the EIS alternatives as a way to test feasibility'to determine whether density increases alone can meet countywide housing needs without unsupportable capital-facility and transportation upgrades, or whether modest UGA adjustments are required. No formal policy decisions or ordinance changes were adopted at the meeting; the committee and staff set a schedule for briefings, outreach events and the draft EIS publication and requested further coordination with fire, water and school districts.

The county plans to return to the steering committee with a draft EIS and recommended alternatives in December and to take direction to the planning commission and board of county commissioners for subsequent policy choices.