Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Code Update topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Spokane County planners preview new zoning categories to allow duplexes, master‑planned neighborhoods and mixed‑use infill
Summary
Consultant Scott Chesky presented draft code amendments creating three new zones — Neighborhood Residential 1 (infill duplexes/three‑ and four‑plexes), Neighborhood Residential 2 (master‑planned larger parcels) and Neighborhood Business (multifamily near commerce) — and described design standards and a schedule for preferred‑alternative review starting Aug. 13.
Consultant Scott Chesky told the Spokane County Planning Commission that draft development‑code amendments introduce three new zoning categories to respond to market and state policy changes. Chesky said the changes aim to allow greater residential density in appropriate places while adding design standards to keep new buildings compatible with neighborhoods.
"Neighborhood Residential 1 is a renewed emphasis on infill development," Chesky said, describing NR1 as a zone that would allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes by right. He said Neighborhood Residential 2 is intended for larger, master‑planned sites "perhaps 5 acres, perhaps 10 acres or larger" where a mix of uses and a neighborhood center can be integrated. Neighborhood Business, he added, is the more intense option to allow multifamily close to commercial areas.
Chesky described draft design standards for building articulation and transparency — for example, minimum window coverage and facade modulation — intended to prevent large, monolithic facades and to encourage front porches and pedestrian scale. He said the draft removes some minimum lot‑size rules to give developers flexibility to build more attainable ownership product.
The county posted the roughly 50‑page draft amendment on its website and will continue to take comments. Chesky said the commission will begin discussing a "preferred alternative" and an overall land‑use map at the Aug. 13 meeting and that the disparate pieces of the code work will be consolidated over the next 30 to 45 days.
The commission did not vote on code adoption; staff urged reviewers to read the posted draft and submit written comments for later hearings.
