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Spokane County weighs infill, neighborhood zoning and limited UGA changes as part of EIS process
Summary
County consultant Scott Chesney told commissioners the EIS will test a no-action alternative, an infill-only alternative, and a neighborhood-zoning alternative that could add capacity without major boundary expansion; staff flagged statutory changes and a recent Mercer Island appeal that complicate implementation.
Consultant Scott Chesney told the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners on Dec. 15 that the county's urban growth area (UGA) update and accompanying environmental impact statement (EIS) will evaluate three paths: a no-action baseline, an infill-only alternative that raises residential densities within the existing UGA, and a second action alternative that creates neighborhood residential and neighborhood commercial zones and considers limited UGA boundary adjustments.
"This is the interesting benchmark, but it is really kind of the end of the beginning," Chesney said as he opened the briefing, explaining the EIS is designed so the board can select a defensible preferred alternative within identified "bookends" without having to restart the study.
Why it matters: staff said the county must show it can meet statutorily required housing allocations across income bands. Chesney cited recent state legislation (referred to in the briefing as House Bill 1220) that assigns unit targets by area median income bands and referenced a Mercer…
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