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County staff push West Plains aquifer protection area to August ballot with $15-per-parcel fee proposal

Spokane County Board of Commissioners · March 18, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

County staff presented a proposed West Plains Aquifer Protection Area modeled on the SVRP APA, proposing $15 annual parcel fees (water-use and septic tracks), a list of allowable expenditures, and a May 1 elections filing deadline to reach the August 2026 ballot.

County staff described a proposed West Plains Aquifer Protection Area (APA) at the March 17 Spokane County meeting and asked the board to approve a notice of public hearing to meet the May 1 elections filing deadline needed for an August ballot measure.

Amy (speaker 4) and Kyle (speaker 8) told commissioners the APA would model its parcel-rate structure after the Spokane-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) APA and estimated around 18,000 parcels in the proposed boundary. The proposal includes two resident fees ($15 per year for water users and $15 for properties on septic) and scaled commercial fees by meter size. Allowable uses under the statutory authority referenced (RCW 36.36) include planning, stormwater, sanitary sewer, drinking-water infrastructure, monitoring, enforcement and education.

Amy summarized anticipated county-led activities from roughly $400,000 in first-year revenue: a dedicated county staff position for West Plains work, a monitoring program, education in West Plains schools, and approximately $160,000 remaining to distribute either to participating municipalities or to regionally administered projects such as conservation rebates or larger construction projects.

Why it matters: staff said the APA could improve aquifer health over 20 years through monitoring and conservation programs. The timeline they proposed would put a notice of public hearing on the board’s March 31 agenda, hold the hearing April 14, and require identification of pro/against committees in April to meet elections office requirements by May 1.

Board direction and next steps: staff asked the board to approve publishing the hearing notice and to confirm a process for selecting committees for and against the measure. Staff also said inclusion of cities requires their resolutions; Cheney has already passed its resolution, Airway Heights voted to join, and Medical Lake was completing its consideration.