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 processes; committee members and public commenters framed the changes as clarifying and aligning the draft with Department of Commerce climate planning guidance and local air-quality practice.

Public comment and committee debate: three members of the public spoke during the hearing. Darren Watkins urged the committee to consider greenhouse-gas consequences of cross-border housing and commuting patterns and reported large increases in daily commuter trips from Kootenai County, Idaho into Spokane County. Dr. Carrie Brooks said the draft "is critical in providing collaborative framework" and asked the committee to consider extending the comment period so city and county climate advisory committees could review and endorse revisions; she also supplied redline edits. Paul Cropp offered a grammatical and formatting redraft and suggested specifying the start date for reporting requirements; Chesney said county staff had "no objection" to his reformatting suggestions.

Committee members discussed whether to include the word "smoke" in a list of hazards (alongside wildfire, extreme heat and flooding). Commissioner Waldorf moved to adopt the Cropp redraft and "add wildfire smoke" in policy 2.c.; Mayor Kitty Cooper proposed an amendment to add the phrase "in compliance and coordination with Clean Air," citing prescribed burns and existing Clean Air monitoring. Graham (county planning staff who shepherded the PTAC subcommittee) told the committee "smoke is absolutely one of [the hazards]" and that its previous omission was not intentional.

Votes and outcome: the committee approved an amendment to add "in compliance and coordination with Clean Air" and then voted to adopt the draft policies incorporating Paul Cropp27s reformatting and the smoke language noted above. Committee chair called the question and announced the motion carried. (Chair recorded the committee27s vote count as four ayes when announcing the final result.) The steering committee27s recommendation will be transmitted to the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners for consideration in April 2025.

What the policy package will do next: if the steering committee27s recommendation is transmitted, the Board of County Commissioners will review the policy package in its statutory role; staff told the committee they expect to present the package to the board the following month. Committee members and speakers urged that local climate advisory committees be engaged in any extended review period.

Ending: County planning staff said the steering committee27s actions complete the public hearing stage for this package and that no further action was taken at the meeting; the package will now move through the county27s review process.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to adopt countywide climate and resiliency planning policies incorporating Paul Cropp27s reformat and adding smoke language with the phrasing "in compliance and coordination with Clean Air" (moved by Commissioner Waldorf; seconded by Mayor Kitty Cooper) — Chair announced the motion carried (chair recorded "4 ayes"). - Routine approval of the Jan. 29 meeting minutes (mover: Tim Hadenberg; seconded by Mayor Freeman) — motion passed earlier in the meeting (chair stated the motion passed; details recorded in the minutes).