By JAMES EIK
Staff Reporter
At its Feb. 14 meeting, the Airway Heights planning commission considered multiple items it needs to look at in 2012.
The largest and most time-consuming item on the list, according to city planner Derrick Braaten, was the mandated review and update of the city's comprehensive plan.
The state Legislature pushed the completion date back by three years, extending it to 2015. Apart from reviewing the document, the city must perform a land quantity analysis and environmental analysis, while taking public input on the city's goals.
Potential elements included in future discussion in the comprehensive plan include themed business districts and master planning for business areas in the city.
The Joint Land Use Study will also appear before the planning commission, likely in March. Once reviewed, the document will be added to the city's municipal code. Braaten said Spokane County commissioners would like to see the document implemented by area jurisdictions by April 17. A timeline for the project would be coming out later this week.
Currently under an emergency moratorium set to expire March 1, the commission will once again look at its proposed mixed-use overlay. The city placed the moratorium on mixed-use developments in December, ahead of its annexation, with the goal of updating and providing clearer definitions for its mixed-use code.
Braaten said a joint planning session with the county regarding the Geiger Spur rail line would take place later this year, in an effort to develop it further. While the area will fall under JLUS guidelines, he said a transloading facility would help entice compatible development.
“It's a pretty strong industrial generator in that area,” he said.
The alternative housing project for the manufactured home facility on the southern side of the city is also on the agenda for the planning commission. Some of the facility encroaches on Fairchild Air Force Base's Accident Potential Zone Two. Density regulations only allow two units per acre in the area.
Braaten reiterated that there are no plans in place for the area and that offers for additional housing are far off in the future. The project won't move forward without a competitive and enticing offer for new housing.
“If there's not some place to go, then we're not going to ask,” he said.
Representatives from the offices of Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and local state representatives have all taken part in the discussions. Braaten said the level of commitment from the federal representatives was welcome.
“They're recognizing that we can't do it by ourselves,” he said.
Braaten said the city is severely deficient in multifamily housing availability, adding that the annexed multifamily buildings located in the annexation are already occupied. Airway Heights, he said, operates around 93 percent occupancy for multifamily units in the city.
He also said the city started a 14-day PUBLIC NOTICE on property to be annexed from the Spokane Tribe, to the west of the city. The area resides in the northern half of the city's Urban Growth Area.
During his report, Braaten said the city received information back from its survey of the eastern annexation. While the city estimated 1,425 residents in the area, the survey found 1,420 residents and 838 units. The survey will help determine the amount of funding the city will receive from the state.
James Eik can be reached at [email protected].
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