West Plains resident urges Spokane County to halt UGA mapping until PFAS, critical-area data are updated

Julia McHugh, a West Plains resident, told Spokane County planning staff on Dec. 15 that she lives on a PFAS-contaminated domestic well and urged officials to pause any Urban Growth Area (UGA) mapping until critical-areas maps and science are updated. “I’m living on a contaminated PFAS contaminated well,” McHugh said, and she asked to be included in review of draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) materials she said are being produced without sufficient public review.

McHugh said the county’s draft materials appear to have assigned “no critical areas” labels to parcels in recent matrices and warned that decisions based on such labels would harm scarce resources including recharge zones, wetlands, wildlife corridors, geohazard areas and frequently flooded areas. She flagged the S3R3 public development authority and a 9,000‑acre development concept near the airport as a particular source of concern for PFAS migration into the West Plains aquifer.

The county’s planning presenter, Scott (planning staff), acknowledged the concerns and said the critical-areas ordinance is being updated from its 2017–2018 version and that critical-area mapping will be a determining factor in any UGA expansion. “To be very clear, there have been no determinations made on UGA expansion, whether there is expansion or not,” Scott said, and he invited McHugh and other residents to continue participating in the process.

Why it matters: West Plains residents rely heavily on private wells and the West Plains aquifer system; McHugh told the commission that the area has thousands of domestic wells and that PFAS and other contaminants historically tied to military and airport operations pose ongoing risks if development is sited without up-to-date environmental analyses.

Numbers and next steps: Staff said the county’s initial screening identified about 2,800 acres of potentially eligible land that will be narrowed through further criteria and qualitative review; the EIS and chapter-by-chapter plan elements will continue into early 2026, with a separate Greater West Plains sub-area planning effort anticipated in 2027. Scott said staff will add tree-canopy and other climate-resiliency elements to the EIS work and will share maps and materials with interested residents, including McHugh.

The workshop did not include a decision to expand UGA boundaries; staff said proposed study areas will be further refined and taken to the Board of County Commissioners before any change is made.