Cheney council hears parking ordinance

Court and land use issues took center stage at the Sept. 26 Cheney City Council meeting.

The council held the first reading of an ordinance that would change parking requirements in the city’s residential zones, which came carrying a recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission. Ordinance X-13 takes a two-pronged approach at the parking issue by limiting the number of bedrooms per unit in the R-2 (Duplex), R-3 (Multifamily) and R3-H (High Density Multifamily) zones and then requiring a specific number of off-street parking spaces per unit.

Essentially, the city’s formula boils down to one space per bedroom.

Councilman Dan Hilton noted that under this approach, multifamily dwellings were limited to four bedrooms and consequently would be required to provide four off-street parking spaces. Cheney’s zoning regulations allows for lower-density residential uses to be built in high-density zones, meaning the owner of property zoned multifamily could build a single-family, R-1, residence on the land.

Hilton wondered if under the changes proposed by the ordinance the owner would then be required to provide four off-street parking slots for the house. Under the current zoning code, R-1 uses are not required to provide off-street parking.

“It’s the use, whatever is being built,” Public Works Director Todd Ableman told Hilton.

Originally, the proposed language in the ordinance limited the number of bedrooms allowable in R-1 single-family zones to five, but commissioners disputed whether this was needed. The requirement was removed from the recommendation sent to council.

In other land use matters, council voted unanimously to approve the sale surplus city land along First Street near Spokane Transit Authority’s K Street transfer station. The only bid received was from Gary Geschke and was for the minimum asking price of $40,000.

Councilmen Doug Nixon and John Taves abstained from the voting, noting they had other relations with Geschke involving land issues.

In municipal court matters, the council unanimously approved a resolution entering into an agreement with Spokane YWCA for domestic violence victim advocacy services. Under the agreement, trained advocates at the YWCA will contact domestic violence victims upon police report or other information provided by the city to assist or directly provide a statement on the victim’s behalf to the court or prosecuting attorney.

Advocates will also assist with answering questions or filling out requests for protection orders or protection order modifications, as well as helping with referral information for resources from other related agencies.

Council also approved an upgrade to a contract with the Spokane County Information Technology Department that allows Cheney’s court to obtain Medical Lake police records. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office provides law enforcement services in Medical Lake.

Cooper said the agreement was needed to allow Cheney to integrate with the county’s upgraded system, and that there was no costs involved.

Finally, council held all three readings and final passage of an ordinance formalizing delinquent parking fees with current state statutes and better define parking violations. Chief among these was the increase in handicap space parking violations from a $250 fine to a $450 fine.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].