Cheney Planning Department announces two public hearings

By DAVID TELLER

Staff Reporter

Despite the country's floundering financial situation, projects continue cropping up in Cheney.

The Cheney Planning Department has two new projects for which public hearing dates have been set.

One proposal is redefining boundaries on an undeveloped property on Mullinix Road.

Cheney planner Elisa Rodriguez said the property is currently platted for 16 lots. If the proposal is approved, the number of lots on the property would be reduced to four and would be in a nonsymmetrical configuration. According to the application submitted by Seattle-based owner, Mark Hedges, the front of the property running along West First Street would be one lot. Adjacent to that, two more smaller lots would be next to the eastern boundary of the land and the rest, which is the majority of the property, would be the fourth lot.

Larry Benson of Ramer and Associates is representing the owner. Benson said the arrangement of the larger portion of the property is to make the land better suited for development. He speculated that would likely be commercial. He said his client is uncertain of what they are going to do with the three smaller lots.

Rodriguez said the property owner does not have to make a proposal with the binding site plan. She added that the property was originally plotted in 1999, but the property owners at the time went bankrupt so the lots were never developed. Currently, the land is zoned light industrial and the owner no longer needs the proposed private street that went through the property.

Community development director Brian Jennings said redefining the lots is a formality. He said the change would allow the property to be sold in any configuration that would benefit either the current owner or future owners. The lots could be sold individually or as a whole.

A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 25 at 6 p.m. during the Cheney City Council meeting in the City Council chambers.

Another project on the boards is a less complicated conditional use review. According to an application from the Cheney Church of Nazarene, the church plans to add a child day care inside the existing church. The church would like to use the existing building for a daycare center for about 40 children, ages one month to 12 years old.

Zoning codes create the need for the review because the property the church sits on is zoned single-family residential.

“The daycare is not allowed outright in the residential zone so they have to go through the conditional use (process) to determine if there is any impacts that need to be mitigated,” Rodriguez said.

A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m. during the Cheney Planning Commission meeting in the City Council chambers.

No structural modifications to the building are planned. Jennings said any kind of remodel is considered tenant improvement and only requires a building permit.

David Teller can be reached at [email protected]