Pedestrian-friendly development, problematic property review and Painted Hills

Welcome to CIVICS, where we break down the week’s municipal meetings throughout the Inland Northwest, so you can get involved and speak out about the issues you care about.  

Some things that stick out to us include: 

• Mark your calendar for an upcoming Documenters orientation!
• Spokane City Council will vote on an emergency ordinance to create a new pedestrian-friendly section of 29th Avenue in District 2
• Goodbye, Monaghan statue? City Council will vote on an ordinance to establish a review process for city-owned property. 
• Painted Hills Development saga in Spokane Valley could be coming to a close.

Important meetings this week:

• Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
• Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
• Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Regular Session
• Spokane Valley City Council 
• Spokane Human Rights Commission

Documenters orientation!

From power struggles on local boards like the Spokane Transit Authority board to squabbles over social media policy in Spokane Valley, our region’s public meetings have been starting the new year off with a bang. Our Documenters program seeks to put meetings like these on the public record for all to access. At RANGE, we love the Inland Northwest and want to make it better. That means sharing vital information from these meetings with more of our community and holding decision-makers accountable. 

If you’re as much of a fan of local meetings, community accessibility to information and civic engagement as we are, we have a virtual training coming up where you’ll be able to get trained to become a Spokane Documenter. By becoming a Documenter, you’ll be the eyes and ears in all the public rooms where decisions are made. And you’ll get paid to attend the meetings that interest you and take notes that get published online.

This training will introduce you to the Spokane Documenters program, starting with a walkthrough of Documenters.org and our assignment workflow. You’ll practice skills relevant to assignments, learn about public meetings law and meet fellow Documenters. Upon completion of this workshop, you’ll be eligible to apply for paid assignments with the Spokane Documenters program. Just make a Documenters account and register here!

Wednesday, February 7, 6 – 7:30 pm
Register to attend virtually here.

Pride community info forums

Spokane Pride is hosting a few community information forums this week. They’re inviting the LGBTQIA2S+ community to share their hopes, dreams and ideas for Pride this year. More information and registration links for the two forums can be found here.

Tuesday, January 30, 6 – 7pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 West Wellesley Avenue
Register here

Wednesday, January 31, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Spokane Valley Library
22 N Herald Rd,
Spokane Valley, WA 99206
No registration link available.

Exploring Dyslexia forum

The Inland Northwest Dyslexia Alliance is hosting an open forum this weekend to answer dyslexia-related questions, connect families and teachers and “help others reach their full potential, in the classroom and beyond.” Attendees will have the opportunity to ask any questions in a supportive environment and get answers from experienced professionals and parents. More information on the event can be found here.

Saturday, February 3, 1 – 2:30 pm
Spokane Valley Library
22 N Herald Rd, 
Spokane Valley, WA 99206

Spokane City Council

Rule Changes

The rule changes passed by Spokane City Council at last week’s meeting go into effect tonight. Some of the major changes include moving Open Forum to the end of the meeting and implementing a decorum rule that bans standing as a form of silent dissent. For a clear breakdown of how to civically engage under the new rules, check out our do’s and don’ts guide here. For an in-depth discussion on the context of the rule changes, the history of Open Forum and speculation about the potential impacts, check out our latest episode of the RANGE podcast, where our own Luke Baumgarten interviews city hall reporters Nate Sanford of the Inlander and Erin Sellers of RANGE. 

Transit-Oriented Development in District 1

The South Logan Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Plan and its associated Environmental Impact Statement have been in development with the Plan Commission, but after a public hearing in early December, final versions of the plan and impact statement are slated for a vote before the Spokane City Council tonight. Transit-oriented development is “an urban planning strategy that encourages development near high-capacity transit infrastructure.” If the vote on the TOD plan passes tonight, it will be accepted as the framework that guides development in the South Logan neighborhood. 

After hearing concerns about parking from residents in the neighborhood, Council Member Michael Cathcart filed an amendment to the resolution in support of the TOD. In a meeting last month, Cathcart said residents had come to him with concerns that college kids in the neighborhood, which is located near Gonzaga University, had frequently parked in front of driveways and blocked people in. His amendment, if passed, would require the TOD plan to collaborate with Parking Enforcement, property owners and the university to develop strategies around parking enforcement and management. 

The plan can be read in its entirety here.

Monaghan statue ordinance up for a vote

Revived by freshman Council Member Paul Dillon, the ordinance to establish “a process to consider and act upon community members’ concerns regarding City-owned property,” is up for a vote tonight. The ordinance, referred to by some as the Monaghan ordinance because of its ties to community pushes for the removal of a statue of John R. Monaghan with racist imagery and language in its baseplate, had previously been passed last year then subsequently killed by a veto from former mayor Nadine Woodward. 

With the more politically-aligned Lisa Brown in office, Dillon made slight revisions to the original ordinance and submitted it again. It has been discussed in a study session, and publicly last week when it got its first read near the end of Monday’s four and a half hour city council meeting. During the meeting, Cathcart asked questions about the evaluation metrics and criteria for deciding what met the threshold for being renamed or removed. The process outlined in the ordinance seems to rely on the expertise of the Spokane Human Rights Commission and the Office of Civil Rights, Equity and Inclusion to provide recommendations and guide the review and renaming process. 

The vote is slated for tonight’s meeting, so community groups who have been advocating for the removal of the Monaghan statue could see the process to remove it restarted shortly, if the ordinance passes, which seems likely given comments of support from some council members on the dais and the current political makeup of the body. 

Our clickbait title: Beer Gardens for Kids

The Family Friendly ordinance could allow local nonprofits to relax beer garden regulations, allowing families to bring those under 21 in with them. Though it’s still listed on the agenda, Council Member Zack Zappone told RANGE the vote on the ordinance sponsored by him and Dillon will likely be deferred during today’s briefing session, prior to the meeting. Zappone said they want a bit of time to make tiny tweaks to the language to bring it into alignment with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, but there will be “no substantive changes.”

Chick-fil-a on 29th?

The Spokane City Council had planned to pass a zoning ordinance that would designate a .66-mile portion of E 29th Avenue as a pedestrian street, which would ban drive-thru business and lay out standards for pedestrian-friendly development. Some other areas with this pedestrian-friendly designation include a section of Perry Street and a section of Monroe Street. 

The ordinance is scheduled for an emergency vote at tonight’s meeting, after news broke last week that Chick-fil-a had filed an application to put a drive-thru in the area. Under the ordinance, this would not be allowed, but because the business filed the permit request prior to the vote on the ordinance, they could be grandfathered in, if the city planning department approves the permit request. 

Dillon, who co-sponsored the ordinance with Council President Betsy Wilkerson, says that the neighborhood council of that area has been pushing for the pedestrian designation since 2017, and that efforts to pass the ordinance now are unrelated to any specific business. 

Agenda here
Monday, January 29 at 6 pm
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall 
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here. 

Spokane City Council Study Sessions

Agenda here when available.
Thursday, February 1 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall 
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee

Agenda here
Monday, January 29 at 1:15 pm
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

Agenda here 
Tuesday, January 30 at 9 am
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session

Agenda here 
Tuesday, January 30 at 2 pm
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Valley City Council

More police officers for Spokane Valley?

City staff and Spokane Valley Police Department (SVPD) Chief David Ellis will be presenting a police staffing update at the council meeting this week. The lengthy presentation, which can be read in its 203-page-entirety here, is recommending the Valley add 28 more officers, as well as 2 positions to SVPD, which currently has 91 dedicated officers and 37 officers shared with the county. The presentation notes that staffing up would cost an additional $6.3 million per year, which would require the city to identify additional funding. Options include implementing an additional property or sales tax, both of which would require approval from voters, or a utility tax or traffic camera fines, which wouldn’t necessitate a vote. 

The discussion is listed as a nonaction item, so no vote will happen at tomorrow’s meeting, but we anticipate a lively discussion, specifically around how the proposal will be paid for. 

Agenda here
Tuesday, January 30 at 6 pm
Spokane Valley City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.

Painted Hills Development Hearing

Conflict over the residential development of the old Painted Hills golf course has stretched on for a decade. After developers acquired the property in 2013, neighbors in the area – including a group of nuns – opposed the project, but the conflict could see its end this week. The Painted Hills site sits in a floodplain, and development would require dumping 330,000 cubic yards of dirt on the site to bring it above the flood levels, which has the community concerned over environmental impacts and some neighbors worried it would push water into the surrounding areas.

The Spokane Valley Hearing Examiner has a meeting scheduled this week to deliberate on land use permits filed by the Black Realty Group, which owns the property. One of the permits is an appeal, which public testimony will not be allowed on, but the other permit will get public testimony. The Spokane Valley clerk anticipates the meeting will stretch for a full three days, with the hearing beginning on Wednesday at 9 am. 

Wednesday, January 31 at 9 am
Center Place, 2426 N Discovery Place, 
Spokane Valley, WA
Agenda here.

Spokane Human Rights Commission

Agenda here when available.
Thursday, February 1 at 5:30 p.m. 
Council Briefing Center in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201