Spokane County steering committee adopts countywide climate and resiliency policies with smoke language and Clean Air coordination

The Spokane County Planning Steering Committee on an April 2025 meeting moved to forward updated countywide climate and resiliency planning policies to the county commissioners after a public hearing and committee debate.

The committee accepted staff27s draft with two substantive edits proposed during public comment and committee discussion: adoption of formatting and language suggested by public commenter Paul Cropp, and addition of a mention of smoke (recorded in the final motion as "wildfire smoke") together with a requirement that planning and resilience actions be "in compliance and coordination with Clean Air." Scott Chesney, Spokane County planning staff, told the committee the documents have been under subcommittee work for more than a year and, if sent forward by the steering committee, "they will go to the Board of County Commissioners in April, next month 2025."

Why it matters: the draft policy package is intended to guide jurisdictions across the Spokane County urban growth area on climate mitigation and resilience measures required by state planning…