By DAVID TELLER
Staff Reporter
Cheney's City Council is scheduled to proceed with annexing the 20.5 acres on east Betz Road occupied by Secure-It Storage, after the Spokane County Boundary Review Board (BRB) approved the annexation application submitted by developer Lanzce Douglass.
BRB director Susan Winchell said the annexation has gone through all of the channels on the county level. She said the annexation is now in the hands of the City Council. All three readings of the ordinance annexing the property will be heard at the March 10 City Council meeting.
A notice of intention was filed with the Spokane County Planning Department on Jan. 12 allowing any agencies until Feb. 26 to invoke the board's jurisdiction. Winchell said there were no comments made, so the board approved the annexation. A certificate of expiration was sent to Cheney community development director Brian Jennings on March 2.
City Councilman Tom Trulove excoriated the development in a Dec. 18, 2007 council meeting because the owner obtained all of the necessary permits from Spokane County's Building and Planning Department. Cheney still has an interest in the property and was not afforded an opportunity to hear a discussion about what kind of land use is being proposed.
Trulove also pointed out the city has dedicated significant funds to make the city more appealing by cleaning up and beautifying the SR-904 entrance to the city, only to have a storage facility, approved by the county, undercut the effort.
During the March Cheney Planning Commission meeting, commissioner Don Nichols commented on how Douglass obtained all permits and approvals from the county.
Jennings said the property is adjacent to the city, but not in the city limits. Even thought the property is in the city's Urban Growth Area, the property holder is not obligated to applying to the city.
Jennings added that the previous community development director, Tom Richardson, did comment on, and approve the development. Jennings added that the property owner has subdivided the land into two separate parcels. The properties are currently zoned as light industrial.
Douglass has also applied to the Washington State Department of Ecology to transfer storm drainage from the yet-to-be-built Eagle Pointe Apartments to an off-property location on Murphy Road.
Eagle Pointe is a multi-family development at Betz Road and Washington Street that would bring 576 apartments to Cheney. Construction crews broke ground on the project last summer.
According to the application submitted to DOE the drainage will enter into Minnie Creek. Cheney project engineer John Johnson said the drainage would actually go into five dry wells on the west side of Murphy Road.
Johnson said the developer installed piping under Betz Road last summer that will transport the excess water to the dry wells and that a pressurized “lift” will traverse the runoff through any elevation differences.
David Teller can be reached at [email protected]
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