Expansion plans for both eastern and western boundaries, impacts to other jurisdictions reviewed
By JAMES EIK
Staff Reporter
The Airway Heights Planning Commission focused on annexation to the east and west of the city at its July 11 meeting.
Annexation to the east of the city will add approximately 405 acres through a new interlocal approach.
“It allows for jurisdictions to annex certain areas that are under the service area of a fire district,” assistant planner Derrick Braaten said.
The district in question is Fire District 10.
This process is completed through filing a grievance, instead of placing it in an election. Once the grievance is worked out, according to Braaten, the annexation is approved. Discussions on annexation with Spokane date back to 2009.
Thursday, July 7, the city submitted its notes of intention to the Spokane Boundary Review Board. An ordinance is in the works and will set the final date for annexation in October or November later this year.
Zoning, however, will be set through a separate action. Currently, only land use designations are in place. Intensities of zones remain undecided and will be finalized at the August or September planning commission meeting.
In all, the city expects the zoning process to the east to be finished by January 2012.
With the annexation the city's population will increase by nearly 1,500 and the city's assessed property value by 33 percent.
“It's a significant increase for the city and something that we've been working on for a long time,” Braaten said.
Due to the way that the state calculates sales tax the city is unsure of what revenues it will acquire.
Also highlighted at the meeting was the annexation to the west of the city, involving an area of land held by the Spokane Tribe. The Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the city's request to annex the land in an agreement with the tribe.
“That's more of a straightforward method. They own all the land,” Braaten said.
Braaten said that the city does not expect much action in the area, as far as the start of construction of the Spokane Tribe Economic Project, until late 2012.
Installation of 1,500 feet of sidewalk will occur in the next few months in order to create safe routes. The city received grant money from the state in order to install the walkways.
Included in construction funded by the grant money are speed feedback signs. Braaten said that these signs will not have cameras or video capability, but will be able to record a vehicle's speed. The city's police department will use the results to determine peak times that vehicles speed, and organize patrols accordingly.
Key-activated pedestrian signs will be installed on West 12th Avenue at Canyon and Lawson streets. Braaten said that a Department of Transportation visit observed eight vehicles fail to come to a complete stop at the intersections over a 20-minute time span.
Preliminary engineering is slated to begin this month. The city seeks to have the signs installed before school starts in the fall.
James Eik can be reached at [email protected].
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