Council adopts Complete Streets amendment adding performance measures; staff says passing by Aug. 15 helps grant competitiveness

Spokane City Council members reviewed and adopted amendments to the city's Complete Streets ordinance during the July 21 agenda review, after staff described a package of updates to align the code with current state law and planning documents and to add clearer performance measures. John Snyder, who briefed the council, said the updates add references such as the bicycle master plan and the ADA transition plan, strengthen exception language, and establish monitoring and performance measures that the Transportation Commission will include in its annual report. Section 9, Snyder said, directs reporting on items including annual fatalities and serious injuries by mode, vehicle miles traveled in the city, transit boardings and micromobility trips, plus reporting of new active-transportation facilities built each year. Snyder told council several of the measures rely on data the city already collects but that the updates consolidate reporting into a single public review. He also said the Transportation Improvement Board has a grant cycle with an Aug. 15 deadline and that having the ordinance passed by that date will improve the city's scoring on applications for complete-streets-related grants. Councilors voted to adopt the amendment package; staff said the change will give evaluators a clearer set of performance metrics and public reporting via the Transportation Commission's annual report. Why it matters: the ordinance change standardizes performance tracking and public reporting for multimodal safety and investment measures and may improve the city's ability to compete for state transportation grants. Next steps: staff will incorporate the new reporting items into the Transportation Commission annual report and use the strengthened ordinance language in future grant applications.