Commissioners approve vacation of portion of Beacon Avenue; title wording prompts clarification

Spokane County commissioners voted 4'0'to''0pass a resolution to vacate a segment of Beacon Avenue while explicitly excluding a portion of Yale Street, a matter continued from the April 1 public hearing.

Matt Zaracore of Spokane County Public Works told the board that the resolution and the exhibit had been corrected to reflect the department's recommendation to vacate Beacon Avenue only. "The resolution does address both right of ways but only recommends vacating the Beacon portion," Zaracore said, and staff displayed an exhibit showing the recommended vacated strip. Board members expressed concern that the resolution's title included Yale Street, which could mislead members of the public searching county records.

Legal counsel advised that advertising requirements had kept both street names in the title for notice purposes but that the resolution text reflected the engineer's recommendation. Commissioner Simmons suggested adding a short clarifying descriptor to the resolution record so searchers would see that the action applied only to Beacon Avenue; the board agreed the clerk could add that descriptor without amending the resolution itself.

A motion to adopt the resolution as presented passed 4'0'to''0pass with one recusal: Commissioner French recused himself because he said he was not present for earlier discussions. The action was recorded as a decision-only item carried over from April 1 and labeled County Engineer's Road File number 2316.

The board directed staff and the clerk to add a clarifying description to the resolution record to prevent public confusion; no substantive change to the legal recommendation was made.