One thing was evident as the Airway Heights Planning Commission began its comprehensive plan review process at its March 9 meeting — and that is things are a lot different since the last review in 2006.
Beginning with the plan’s housing chapter, which is where the commission kicked off its work last Wednesday. While still in draft form, statistics from the previous plan and those currently available tell a tale of growth — rapid growth.
According to the 2006 language, the total number of housing units was estimated at 1,095, with mobile homes being the dominant housing type at 41.8 percent, followed by single family at 41.6 percent, multifamily at 11.4 percent and duplexes at 4.9 percent. New information provided by Development Services Director Derrick Braaten show the city’s housing units virtually tripled from 2000 – 2015, with most of those — 1,364 units — coming in between 2010 – 2015.
“The growth trajectory in the city has accelerated significantly,” Braaten said.
Many of the units coming into the city, 838, were annexed in 2012. The rest reflected an increase of 96 duplex units, 267 single-family homes and 216 multifamily units.
The increase has dramatically flipped the housing percentages referenced in the 2006 plan. In 2010, 49 percent of housing stock in the city was single-family while mobile home units declined to 33 percent, despite having added adding 59 units since 2000.
As of last year, single-family housing stood at 39 percent while multifamily increased to 36 percent, mobile homes were at 18 percent and duplexes 7 percent. And as would be expected, those new housing units aren’t standing vacant.
Preliminary information in the housing chapter noted the new housing units reflected a 2,641-person increase in population between 2000 and 2014. This figure didn’t include the 1,420 residents in the one-quarter square mile area annexed in 2012, nor the estimated 2,200 individuals incarcerated at the Airway Heights Corrections Center.
According to the state Office of Financial Management, Airway Heights’ population has grown from 6,114 recorded in the 2010 U.S. Census to an estimated 8,385 in 2015 – an interesting figure in that the 2006 language in the housing chapter forecast the city’s population to be 9,906 by 2026.
Braaten attributed the growth to a number of factors, including other areas in the county — such as Spokane Valley — becoming “tapped out” in the amount of land available to them for expansion. But Airway Heights itself has played a role through efforts to improve, change and market the city as a good place to work and live.
“There’s still work to do,” Braaten said.
The new units have helped improve the city’s multifamily occupancy rate, which several years ago stood at 98 percent, but is now a more industry-normal 90 percent.
Besides reviewing the housing numbers and projections, commissioners also took a look at the chapter’s “Housing Goals and Policies,” particularly a reference to identifying and preserving historical structures in the city. The goal was originally to be struck from the document, but after a lot of commission discussion, Braaten said he would keep the goal, policy and implementation reference in the chapter.
Commissioner Matthew Pederson, whose family has been in the city since 1972, provided a short background on the history of Airway Heights and some of the structures that might be candidates for historical preservation, should the city establish a way to do so. Unfortunately, Pederson said the city lacked a lot of records to help in the process.
“Our history is much more folklore than it is documented,” Pederson said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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