PlanSpokane

2025 Land Capacity Analysis

Required by the Growth Management Act, the Land Capacity Analysis (LCA) looks to answer one very important question — does the City have enough land available to accommodate new residents and homes in the next 20 years? Understanding the answer to this question is an important first step in updating the City of Spokane's Comprehensive Plan. You can learn more about the update at PlanSpokane.org.

How Much Will the City Grow Through 2046?

A regional effort has identified the growth forecasts for all of Spokane County for the next twenty years, through 2046. Based on these forecasts, the City of Spokane is expected to gain at least 23,357 new residents between 2023 and 2046, bringing the City's total population to just over 256,000. To house those new residents, and to make up for some underproduction of housing in the last decade, the City needs to accommodate almost 22,400 new housing units (houses, apartments, etc.). For more details on these estimates, see the recent blog post on Land Capacity and Growth.

What is Capacity?

When talking about the Land Capacity Analysis, capacity is essentially how much land is available to build certain types of development. It is determined by taking a look at available land, but also the development regulations in place that can support or limit the building of the needed number of housing units.

A Regional Approach to Capacity

To determine if sufficient land exists to meet the housing need identified above, each city in Spokane County, and the County itself, must complete a Land Capacity Analysis. All jurisdictions follow the same overall method for conducting their LCA. This method has been created by a collaborative regional process and is adopted by the Spokane Board of County Commissioners (see County Resolution 24-0117).

The City of Spokane completed their analysis following the regional methodology, while also informing it with local knowledge and expertise where appropriate. The overall process the City followed utilized a series of major steps, as follows:

The process is thorough and relies on multiple data sources to reach final conclusions. Once an area with potential capacity is identified, any factors that might reduce the available land for development—such as steep slopes, wetlands, and other physical barriers—are removed from the analysis. Consideration is also made for lands identified for other uses, like schools and parks. Finally, 30 percent is taken out for market factors the City is unable to predict, like how likely an individual property owner is to develop a parcel or to sell it for development by others.

Final Results

In total, the City reviewed all available land within Spokane city limits, analyzed more than one hundred Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), and considered the findings of the South Logan Final Environmental Impact Statement. Based on this analysis, the City determined the number of people and housing units it can reasonably accommodate in the future. In general, the City of Spokane is anticipated to not only be able to accommodate the projected population growth and housing needs but exceed them.

More details about the 2025 Land Capacity Analysis and the efforts that went into this lengthy process can be found in the full report below. An overview presentation of the LCA before the Spokane City Council Urban Experience Committee is also available.