AIRWAY HEIGHTS — There’s homework aplenty for members of the Airway Heights City Council — even the new ones — following a Feb. 22 study session.
In a lengthy 2-hour session, the deliberative board for the city’s government actions will be dealing with things like a sewer connection with the city of Spokane, the adoption of a 2020 zoning map, the future of public safety, sale of some park property and whether to engage with governmental affairs professionals.
Assignments are due March 1 when council meets to officially consider the items.
For the first time in a few months the council had a full complement of members — well sort of. While seats were occupied with replacements for Steve Lawrence and former Mayor Kevin Richey, only Dave Malet was official, having taken the oath of office earlier in the day. Art Bubb was to be sworn in a private ceremony this week.
Topping the agenda was City Manager Albert Tripp updating discussions with the city of Spokane to provide a temporary sewer hookup along the 12300 block of W. McFarlane Road for a proposed business park.
The sewer line project is estimated to cost $1.8 million and Airway Heights could do it, but at the expense of projects already in the long-term vision.
Zach Becker of the Planning Department updated council on progress towards adoption of a new zoning map. He took snippets of previous years maps to illustrate how things had changed. While nearing completion and unveiling, the project still needs tweaking.
Public input has been sought in the effort and a first reading will take place at the next meeting on March 1.
This will be part of a larger effort to update GIS — geographic information systems — maps for Airway Heights which will likely be made public in the coming weeks.
Tripp brought council up to date on the current strategic planning initiative. The lengthy document seeks to develop vision, mission and values statements, and supporting documents, as Airway Heights continues to address both current and future growth.
Also with increased population over the next few decades on the minds at the meeting, Tripp outlined the effort to secure companies that might be interested in producing a Public Safety Needs Assessment. Such a work would address how Airway Heights approaches police, fire and EMS in the coming years.
Eventual adoption, “Will help us make better decisions,” Councilmember Larry Bowman said. Police Chief Brad Richmond added that proper planning for the future, “Will keep us from being reactive,” as more people discover the community.
These items, along with the sale of Sekani Park property, and the proposal to enter into a contract with a governmental affairs company to search out potential new project revenue sources will receive further consideration at the next regular council meeting on March 1.
Paul Delaney is a retired former Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].
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