 |
A bit of fine-tuning was required, but the Spokane Valley City Council put the exclamation point on the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan on Tuesday night.
Now it’s time for the public to weigh in on the controversial topic one final time.
A public hearing on the SARP has been tentatively set for April 14 at CenterPlace. It is hoped that a final document will be available for public review on the city’s Web site, at City Hall and public libraries in the next two weeks.
Due to the length and complexity of the document – which encompasses everything from the reversal of Sprague and Appleway’s one-way status between Argonne and University roads to new zoning and building requirements designed to strengthen the proposed city center area around University City – City Manager David Mercier isn’t making any promises, however.
“It could be problematic to be completed by March 14,” he said, adding that the public hearing would then be moved back to April 28 to give citizens at least a month to review the plan.
The council would then have a couple of weeks to tweak the SARP, if necessary, and come back for a first reading of the document in May. The public could also comment at that time.
Mayor Richard Munson said that even after the document was approved, there are no guarantees that the council won’t make changes in the future.
“There may be some mistakes,” he said.
There was still a bit of tinkering that needed to be done Tuesday, however. Scott Kuhta, senior planner and SARP project manager, said the current plan was to reduce Sprague Avenue from seven lanes to five (two lanes each direction and a center turn lane) between Argonne and University. Appleway would also be reduced to two lanes eastbound, one lane west with a center turn lane in the same area.
There will be room on both streets for widened sidewalks, green space and bike lanes, Kuhta added.
There was some discussion on the year-long “dark period” a building is allowed to be unoccupied before the owner must revert to the new zone classifications approved by the council. Council Member Bill Gothmann suggested extending the time period to two years to allow business owners more flexibility.
“We are going through a difficult (economic) time,” Munson agreed. “It is the prudent thing to do.”
Mercier said, however, that the one-year standard applies not just to the SARP but the entire city under the uniform development code. While it is the norm in cities across the nation, Mercier suggested the council take up the topic separate from the SARP at a later date.
The council also decided to adjust the gateway zoning for the east end of AutoRow from the Union Pacific railroad viaduct to Argonne, thus allowing two auto-related businesses in that area to be included in the new classification.
April 14 will also be the first reading of the airport overlay zone ordinance which will affect areas around Felts Field. Many residents living near the airport have complained that density restrictions do not allow them to split parcels of property as they could have before the city developed its new development code.
The council agreed by consensus to approve a compromise measure, as some properties in the area already have had stubs installed for future water and sewer hookups for new homes. Those parcels – as well as those with more than one residence or those that don’t intersect public right of way – would be allowed to subdivide.
Some council members are still concerned, however, that new home owners may complain about noise and could be a factor in the airport one day relocating or closing.
“Are we going to protect that infrastructure or are you going to let it go away?” Gothmann asked.
Munson countered that there would only be room for a total of 240 additional lots under the new overlay zone and it shouldn’t make much of a difference.
“It’s not rocket science that there’s an airport over there,” he said.
|
|
By
Mike Huffman
