AIRWAY HEIGHTS — The City Council looked at a resolution concerning additional affordable housing incentives at their July 12 study session. Due to the city’s steadily increasing growth, affordable housing is a priority for the city.
The history behind the resolution is a long one. The process began in 2012 when a group called the Fairchild Air Force Base Protection and Community Empowerment Project group was formed. They found that certain points of the city, particularly on the southern side, were part of an accident potential zone (APZ) due to an extension of the air force base runway. Due to this, the city added development limitations around the area, including residential limitations for safety reasons.
“Both the city and the county have been trying to find ways to reduce residential development in that area for both Fairchild and the protection of the citizens down there,” said planning technician Zachary Becker.
In 2013, Spokane County received $2.7 million from the Washington State Legislature to purchase residential areas such as Solar World Apartments and remove them. In 2015 they used $2,000,500 to acquire two mobile home parks residing in the APZ, and then purchased 20 acres of land on the north side of the city for $204,000. Long story short, the city has been trying to make affordable housing available on the north side while removing residential areas on the south side.
Part of this process is in the form of general facility charges (GFCs). GFCs are one-time charges a property owner pays to connect to a utility system, in this case for water and sewage. The city provided a 15% GFC reduction in 2016 as an affordable housing incentive.
In 2018 they increased the incentives to a 50% reduction in GFCs, but due to an error in the maps used to identify the area, not all the land on the north side of the city was included. The newest resolution brings all the areas originally identified up to a 50% reduction in GFCs.
“What we’re doing now is essentially going back to that 2018 (resolution) and adding all of those areas,” Becker said. “We just want to clarify we are taking that 15% and we are making it 50% for everyone in those low-income areas that were initially established.”
The sites are still in the process of being developed by Community Frameworks. The nonprofit organization creates multi-family, supportive and affordable housing for low-income families.
Riley Kankelberg can be reached at [email protected].
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