Spokane Valley planning commission backs removing home-business fee exemption from zoning code

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — The Spokane Valley Planning Commission on Sept. 11 recommended removing a long-standing home-business permit fee exemption from the city’s zoning code and asked the City Council to consider whether any exemptions should be retained elsewhere in the municipal code.

The commission voted to approve a code text amendment to Section 19.65.180(a) that would delete the specific zoning-code exemption for home-business permit fees and allow fee policy to be handled in the city’s master fee schedule (Title 3). Levi Basener, associate planner for the city, told the commission the proposed change is limited to removing the fee exemption and does not alter other home-business rules.

Basener said, “the proposed amendment today is to act is to remove that home business permit fee exemption and this is the only change proposed to the home business regulations at this time.” He explained staff’s intent is to move fee language out of Title 19 (zoning) and consolidate permit and service fees in Title 3 so the Council can consider fees holistically through a master fee schedule.

Commissioners debated the policy and the practical effect on small businesses. Commissioners noted the city has several hundred registered home businesses and that most appear to qualify for fee exemptions under current rules. Basener told the commission there were about 458 home businesses on file as of 2024 and that “the majority” of home-business permit applications currently qualify for the exemption.

Commissioner Kelly said the commission should forward the amendment with a clear recommendation that the Council consider retaining exemptions in the master fee schedule: “I’m just suggesting that we do this, but with the recommendation that the exemptions be retained, and the council can decide where to go from there.” Several other commissioners urged caution about imposing new costs on small home-based enterprises and urged that Council weigh the budget tradeoffs.

The commission opened the public hearing on the item but recorded no in-person or online comments. After discussion, the commission adopted a motion to approve the code amendment to Title 19 removing the fee-exemption language, with an explicit recommendation that any exemptions removed from Title 19 be reinserted by the Council in an appropriate location of the municipal code (for example, the master fee schedule in Title 3).

The action will move to City Council for administrative review and ordinance readings; staff indicated tentative council dates for administrative review and first/second readings in October. Basener noted that formal findings of fact will return to the commission in two weeks to finalize the commission’s recommendation to the Council.

The commission’s change affects only the placement of fee policy; Basener emphasized that the substantive home-business permitting criteria and operational limits (for example, prohibitions on automotive repair, kennels and certain disruptive activities at residences) were not part of this amendment and would remain in Title 19.

Members who spoke on the record included Chair Rob Bob McKinley, associate planner Levi Basener, staff attorney Steve Roberge, and Commissioners Kelly, Winkler, Wilson, Meyer, Weatherman, Robertson and Robinson. The commission’s motion passed by voice vote with all voting members present recorded as voting in favor.