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Council considers emergency amendments to Title 17 and moves ADU ordinance to accelerated schedule to meet state grant deadline
Summary
City staff presented a package of emergency ordinances to fix unintended changes to Title 17 approval criteria for plats and to adopt an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance on an accelerated schedule so a related state grant application can meet a June 15 deadline.
Spencer Gardner briefed the Spokane City Council on two emergency ordinances amending processes related to Title 17 of the Spokane Municipal Code and on an ADU ordinance (C36696). Gardner said the emergency ordinances would clarify that emergency, moratorium or interim zoning ordinances adopted by council do not need to go through the regular plan commission process, and that the city needed an emergency amendment to restore approval criteria for plats that were "mistakenly modified" in housing code changes made in 2023.
Gardner told council the plan commission had held a hearing and recommended approval. He said the council was being asked to suspend rules to move the ADU ordinance forward because a state grant deadline is June 15; the normal timeline would not allow final adoption before that date. Council moved and seconded a suspension of the rules "for the purpose of the ADU," and the council recorded the suspension and added ordinance C36696 to the agenda for first reading and final consideration on an accelerated schedule.
Council Member Cathcart said she had no objection to moving the item up and commented that taking business at a town-hall-style meeting can lend legitimacy to that meeting. Staff said the emergency amendment restores prior approval criteria and that no plats had been exempted while staff applied the criteria as if the code had not changed.
The briefing recorded motions to suspend the rules and to add the ordinance to the agenda; staff indicated the change was needed to secure a state grant and to correct an unintended code change from 2023.
