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Call it one last look.
Saying Tuesday the public needs a bit more time to review the final document, the Spokane Valley City Council plans to back up the official launch of the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization two more weeks until Oct. 15.
The reason, according to council members, is that the document has not been made available on the city’s Web site since the council made its final approval on the SARP back in June. While physical copies have been available at Spokane Valley City Hall either in paper form or on compact disc, the document “hasn’t been cleaned up” and formatted the way city staffers would like, said Scott Kuhta, senior planner.
Kuhta added that there has been little public interest in viewing the SARP, which has been set to go into effect Oct. 1, in the past few weeks.
“We frankly haven’t had a lot of people come in,” he said. “We haven’t had people ask about it. There have been a few developers, but that’s about it.”
For those reasons, and that the SARP has been made available in some form for review, Council Member Bill Gothmann said he didn’t believe there was a compelling reason to delay the implementation date of the ordinance.
“I see no benefit (in delaying this),” Gothmann said. “The plan is available. Staff is available to explain it.”
Susan Scott -- who, along with her husband, owns property on Sprague Avenue -- suggested to the council pushing back SARP’s start date after relating a rather convoluted experience attempting to see the plan. The comments came during a time when the council adopted an ordinance to streamline the plan, which seeks to spur new growth along the Sprague-Appleway corridor through new zone classifications and building requirements.
“We’re two weeks away,” Scott said. “Yet how do you plan to implement (the SARP) without a finished document for the public to view?”
The council plans to make the official change at its meeting next Tuesday.
In other news, the council agreed to move forward with a contract with a company that will manage false-alarm calls that require police to respond to businesses. Spokane Valley Police Chief Rick Van Leuven said his department would still respond when alarms go off, however CryWolf – the sole responder the city’s request for proposals and the company that handles the city of Spokane’s false alarms – would do the follow up work and levy any fees.
Last year, the sheriff’s office responded to 788 false-alarm calls due to accidentally tripped or faulty security systems. In most of those cases, patrol officers were taken off the street and time and resources were wasted with no cost recovery, Van Leuven said. Schools, however, would be exempt even though they traditionally have the largest number of instances.
As a part of the ordinance, businesses with alarms would be required to register annually and provide updated contact names law-enforcement can reach business owners more quickly.
The council plans to make its final approval on the ordinance next week.
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By
Mike Huffman
