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City staff says Liberty Lake has land capacity to meet projected 20-year employment growth
Summary
City planning staff presented an employment forecast July 23 that projects roughly 12,000 to 15,000 jobs in the planning period and told the Planning Commission the city has land capacity to support that range under current zoning and likely future densities.
City planning staff told the Liberty Lake Planning Commission on July 23 that the employment forecast and land-capacity analysis prepared for the comprehensive plan update project a range of roughly 12,000 to 15,000 jobs over the planning period and that the city has sufficient land capacity to accommodate those projections under current and reasonably expected future development patterns.
Why it matters: The employment and land-capacity outlook is a key input for the transportation network analysis, capital facilities planning and other elements of the comprehensive plan. The forecast affects expected demands for roads, utilities and public services through the planning horizon.
Staff described three projection methods: a 10-year linear trend line, compounded trend lines by industry group, and a jobs-to-housing-ratio projection that uses the city's current ratio as a baseline. Those methods produced a range of potential job outcomes the presentation summarized as roughly 12,000 to 15,000 jobs. To test land capacity, staff used two bookends: achieved floor-area ratios (what has been built to date) and maximum build-out under current zoning assumptions; both measures indicated sufficient capacity for the forecasted job range.
Staff said recent River District development is producing substantially greater floor-area ratios than earlier development patterns and that future projects could increase per‑acre employment density. Commissioners pressed staff on technical details: whether a statewide or county policy allows landowners to maintain agricultural land in a tax-advantaged "bank" and whether the city has areas of prime agricultural soil; staff replied that the state program exists for appropriate soils but Liberty Lake does not have class-A soils and that vacant parcels in the city historically grew bluegrass but were effectively tenant-farmed until development.
The commission also discussed parking and development patterns. Staff noted that past code approaches included minimum and maximum parking standards but that fixed maximums prompted repeated variance requests and that market forces tend to lead developers to provide the parking their uses require. Commissioners and staff discussed tradeoffs between denser, walkable districts and the continuing need for parking for users arriving from outside walkable areas.
No formal action was taken on the forecast or land-capacity analysis during the meeting. Staff said the employment memo will be appended to the comprehensive plan as supporting material and distributed to transportation and service partners (SRTC, STA, Spokane County, Spokane Valley) to support network analysis and capacity planning.
