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Council holds public hearing, cites urgency for taller first-responder communications towers
Summary
Council heard staff and a councilmember discuss the emergency need to allow taller towers to support SHREC's new facility in Spokane Valley and unanimously reaffirmed interim rules to permit the structures.
The Spokane Valley City Council on Sept. 16 held a public hearing and unanimously reaffirmed emergency interim regulations to allow taller wireless towers when used by regional first-responder communications facilities.
Eric Lamb, the city’s deputy city manager, told the council the regional emergency communications operator known as SHREC needs a taller tower to provide redundancy and reduce potential interference at a newly acquired facility in Spokane Valley. Lamb said the interim ordinance — originally adopted July 29 — sets a 100-foot allowance for towers and up to 120 feet including antenna arrays when used by regional facilities for first-responder communications.
“This allowed SHREC to get the jump that they needed, because those weeks and months were valuable and critical for them,” Lamb said during the hearing.
Councilmember Merkel said he was “a little bit bothered” that the measure was filed as an emergency after SHREC’s need was foreseeable, but said he would vote for the measure because reliable emergency communications are essential.
After the public hearing, the council adopted resolution 25-017 reaffirming the interim ordinance 25-013. City staff said the resolution and supporting facts will go to the Planning Commission as part of the process to consider permanent regulations, and that SHREC has prepared a pre-application and imminent submission of a tower permit application.
Mayor Pam Haley and council members voted unanimously. City staff noted Spokane (the adjacent city) had decided not to participate with the new facility, increasing urgency for Spokane Valley to approve temporary measures that allow the operator to complete site and tower work.
Council directed staff to forward the interim facts and regulations to the Planning Commission and to bring back any substantive changes resulting from the planning process.
