City, County discuss growth considerations, infrastructure impacts
Brian Coddington, Communications Director, No Phone Number Available
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 2:25 p.m.
A discussion about joint development needs and considerations continued this morning between City and County elected officials. The meeting is the second in a series of collaborative meetings to establish parameters on how each plans for growth and regional development.
A few key points from Wednesday's meeting:
- The state Department of Commerce discussed the decision-making process to establish urban growth policies that maximize infrastructure investments. Planning for growth has become more complicated as the years have gone by, according Jeffrey Wilson with the state Department of Commerce. "People have set standards about what they expect in their community for infrastructure, public safety and other services… What we did for communities 25 years ago is vastly different than we are doing for communities today," he said.
- Kevin Wallace, executive director, Spokane Regional Transportation Council, recommended integrating transportation and land use planning: "It's not just where growth happens, but also how it functions." He forecasted demands on the transportation system (PDF 3.5 MB) to outpace the predicted 35 percent population growth over the next three decades, including 37 percent increased demand on roads, 27 percent on transit and 36 percent in non-motorized transportation. Vehicle miles traveled (41 percent) and vehicle hours of travel (42 percent) are also forecasted to increase.
- The City is developing a six-year service plan (PDF 881 KB) that would define a "timely and reasonable" approach to managing growth of water delivery. Expansion decisions would be made based on where they make business sense, according to Rick Romero, City Utilities director. Requests for expansion outside of the designated water growth area would be taken through the planning process.
A library of meeting documents is available online or you can watch previous meetings.
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