Spokane County planners present three growth scenarios, cite housing targets and infrastructure limits

Spokane County Planning staff on Tuesday described three alternatives for how the county could accommodate projected population growth from 2026 to 2046 and asked residents in Moran Prairie to comment on tradeoffs among housing density, infrastructure and environmental protections.

The county must finish its comprehensive plan update by December 2026 and is preparing a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) expected in December, followed by a 45-day public comment period, planners said. The county will brief the Planning Commission on Oct. 30 and the Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 3 as part of a multi-step public review.

The planning presentation, given by Scott Chesnick of Spokane County Planning, framed three high-level approaches: a largely "do nothing" baseline that keeps current zoning and urban growth area (UGA) boundaries; an infill-focused alternative that raises allowable residential density in many unincorporated areas; and a third approach that keeps more suburban densities but allows selective UGA expansion in some places. Chesnick said the county is analyzing how to accommodate roughly 100,000 new people countywide over the next 20 years and that unincorporated Spokane Countythe county's share under those projectionsis expected to be roughly 35,000 people.

Why it matters: the state legislature revised the Growth Management Act this cycle to require counties and cities to plan for housing by income bands tied to…