Council staff advance Complete Streets ordinance update to align design standards and grant competitiveness

City transportation staff told a Spokane City Council subcommittee on June 15 that they have finalized an updated Complete Streets ordinance that a planning commission unanimously forwarded with amendments last week.

The proposed update modernizes the ordinance’s purpose language, removes outdated references, and creates a rolling process for exceptions so that catastrophic failures or other urgent repairs need not wait for an annual exceptions cycle tied to the six-year street plan. The update is intended to reduce later rework by ensuring pedestrian, bicycle, transit and freight needs are considered in a single design pass.

Why it matters: Staff said the revision will help the city compete for Transportation Improvement Board and federal grants and avoid doing multiple construction passes on the same corridor. The update also aligns the ordinance with newer plans such as the city’s Pedestrian Master Plan.

Staff noted the ordinance originated in 2009 and passed in 2011 and has not been revised since. The planning commission and transportation commission both reviewed and proposed improvements during the update process; staff said the planning commission passed the ordinance unanimously.

Next steps: The revised ordinance will come to council for consideration; staff said the change is intended to reduce project costs over time, improve grant competitiveness and clarify exception procedures.

Ending: Councilmembers asked only clarifying questions; staff said the update reflected broad staff and community input during review by the planning and transportation commissions.