Spokane County staff preview DEIS, urge policy choices on aquifer, wetlands and how to house projected growth

Spokane County planning staff on Wednesday presented a progress update on the countywide Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the draft EIS (DEIS), laying out three alternatives for accommodating projected population growth and identifying environmental constraints that will shape any preferred course. The briefing focused on natural-environment protections — especially aquifer vulnerability and wetlands — and how those protections affect the urban growth area (UGA) and housing capacity.

"We will also talk about, a little bit of how the critical areas ordinance review is going along, specifically natural environment areas," Scott Chesney, the county planner leading the briefing, told commissioners as he opened the presentation. Chesney framed the DEIS around three bookended alternatives: a no-growth regulatory scenario, an Alternative 1 that relies on regulatory changes to accommodate growth within existing UGAs, and an Alternative 2 that preserves historic planning patterns while allowing limited movement of UGA borders.

Chesney stressed that the DEIS is meant to identify reasonable alternatives and the mitigation measures the county can use to avoid or reduce significant environmental effects. "The affected environment, the impacts, mitigation…