CIVICS | Plus, big changes to the not-book ban ordinance in Liberty Lake and some help coming for homeless youths.
Welcome to CIVICS, where we make sense of municipal meeting agendas in and around Spokane so you don't have to. We hope you use this weekly series to inform your daily life, take action and show up for your community.
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Finance and Administration Committee
Host homes for homeless youth
MHA Speakout Speakup has been selected to administer Spokane’s host home program to help young people get stable, short-term housing for up to six months, case management and support. These host homes are meant to help the young people repair relationships and figure out life with the help of a case manager and affirming mentor. Once city council approves it, MHA will get $138,000 from the city’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project funds to administer the program for two years. After the contract is up, the program will become part of the Continuum of Care, but it’s not clear what that really means.
How to create teen centers
Council members Lori Kinnear and Zack Zappone are hoping to allocate $700,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to begin the process of creating a teen center. Spokane got more than $80 million in ARPA funds, $3 million of which are earmarked for youth behavioral health and activities and of that, $700,000 are earmarked for expanding youth activities.
The councilmembers want the teen center to offer activities outside of school hours, like culturally relevant activities and services, peer to peer support groups and a variety of activities that would appeal to youth who aren’t already involved in community activities.
The city’s ARPA workgroup wants to use this funding for either one-time capital expenses to create a new teen center or to expand a building the city already has to make room for a teen center.
The resolution that the councilmembers are putting forward is a Request for Information (RFI), meaning the city would be asking community providers to propose how they could operate and manage a teen center and what capital needs there are. This can include identifying a building to buy, plans for constructing a new building, renovation and furniture needs.
Airbnb code update
The Airbnb code changes we wrote about last week are making their way through to the city council for eventual approval, but will have to make a stop at the Finance and Administration Committee first.
One of the reasons for this change, according to the ordinance preamble, is because Spokane is still in a housing shortage and short-term rentals (STRs) can take rental stock out of the market.
The code change would restrict the number of STRs in multifamily buildings and single-family lots, require annual safety inspections, and add a $2 per night license fee, among other things.
Agenda here
Monday, May 15 at 1:15 p.m
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 9920
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane City Council
A proposed don’t-be-homeless-near-kids law
The city council will once again consider a ballot initiative that would make it illegal for anyone to camp or store personal property within 1,000 feet of any public or private school, public park, playground or licensed child care facility. Violating the law would be a misdemeanor and though we haven’t mapped every single facility this ordinance lists, we’re willing to bet that this would make being homeless illegal in a large portion of Spokane.
The ballot initiative was originally filed on April 14, but was re-filed on May 10 with revisions after the City Hearing Examiner noted issues with the proposed law. The revisions appear to be minor and not substantive — just adding the specific Revised Code of Washington (RCW) definitions for each type of facility that people wouldn’t be able to camp near.
This item is basically meant to inform city council that someone has filed a ballot initiative and they can decide whether to:
- Pass the measure as a law right away
- Reject it and propose another one that deals with the same issue as a law
- Reject it and write a similar ballot initiative
- Do nothing and let it pass to the City Hearing Examiner who will decide if the proposed measure is legal
Only after making it through the hearing examiner would the petitioner, Brian Hansen, be able to start gathering signatures.
For more on this issue check out this piece from Emry Dinman in the Spokesman Review.
Restraints for police
The city council is set for a final vote on the police department’s request to declare Safe Restraints, Inc, as the only provider who can sell them the WRAP restraint system and allow them to spend $76,300 on getting the systems for the department. The restraint system, which locks a person in an upright seated position with a shoulder harness and binds their legs together so they can’t kick, is supposed to make it less likely officers and the person being restrained get injured. That money would pay for 40 WRAP restraints and 200 ankle straps.
Does this sound familiar? This item came up in the public safety and community health committee back in March.
Update to GFCs: meter sizes
The city council will consider an ordinance that would tweak the recently passed ordinance on General Facilities Charges (GFCs) to remove specific meter size requirements for duplexes and triplexes. This is being done because the plumbing and engineering codes already cover this requirement.
Agenda here
Monday, May 15 at 6 p.m.
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here
Spokane County Board of Commissioners
Strategic Planning Meeting
On Monday morning, county commissioners will be hearing presentations on some key and potentially even controversial issues. In the strategic meeting, there’s an update from the group of former city officials working to build a regional homelessness authority in Spokane. There’s also a presentation from Sheriff John Nowels and County Prosecutor Larry Haskell on a potential controlled substance ordinance at the county. Reporting indicates the ordinance will be along the same lines as a drug ordinance passed by Spokane City last week.
Alas, we can’t tell you anything more than what the subjects are for these talks, because, well, those are all the details the county puts out for strategic planning meetings.
Agenda here
Monday, May 15 at 9 a.m.
Board of County Commissioners’ Conference Room
Web link, meeting ID: 856 7484 5677
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Funding for Crosswalk 2.0
The county takes a lot of flack from the city for not spending as much on homeless services, but they appear ready to pass through some big federal dollars to Volunteers of America (VOA) for Crosswalk 2.0 adjacent to Spokane Community College. The $2.85 million investment of American Rescue Act plans in this shelter helps move the youth homelessness service provider out of the downtown core, which the organization says is unsafe for their clients.
When we interviewed VOA in mid-2021, they told us the site they had chosen near SCC would help the kids connect with GED and running start programs, and the design of the shelter is intended to feel like a dorm, hopefully reducing stigma. That was all before the Trent Shelter (TRAC) opened, of course, meaning Crosswalk 2.0 will be close to SCC, but it’ll also be closer to TRAC and associated railroad track encampments, which have proven to be public safety challenges in their own right.
The VoA has a project page where you can learn more about the planned shelter. There’s a town hall on the project on May 17.
Start date for new judge
After pushing back on requests by the Superior Court to add a new judge in the past, the county is set to get a thirteenth judge. The commissioners are voting on a Jan. 8, 2024 start date for the new judge. There’s no mention of an election, but it would track that this position would be on the local November ballot.
Developmental disability agency funding
The commission is considering contracts with Project ID and Arc of Spokane to provide services for developmentally disabled community members. The contract with Project ID is on a fee for service basis and the Arc contract is for $88,000.
Whitworth Bike Path
The county is considering the approval of new bike infrastructure that would start near the Holy Cross cemetery and go up to the Whitworth Campus. This $440,000 project would include better signage at intersections and a new paved pathway. The next step is for the county to collect bids from contractors.
Extending extension
In cooperation with Washington State University, the county helps pay for extension agents who offer services in Spokane County including agricultural resources and programs like 4-H. The county pays for a little more than $300,000 of this local program.
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 16 at 2 p.m.
Public Works Building
1116 W Broadway, Spokane, WA
Commissioner’s Conference Room, First Floor
Liberty Lake City Council
Big changes to the definitely-not-a-book-ban ordinance
The Liberty Lake City Council is set to have the second reading of the ordinance that would limit the power of the Library Board, but this time it has some big changes. According to KXLY, the changes were added during a workshop last Tuesday. The board and city council have been workshopping this ordinance change for months and back in February, the city administration said they were concerned about transparency from the board. The board is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council.
Before, the ordinance change merely added “subject to City Council approval” to the part of the city’s code that gives the Board of Trustees the power to adopt new rules and regulations. Now, the changes are a little more complex. The new ordinance would:
- Give the city council and mayor the power to appoint a city council member to attend Board of Trustee meetings as an observer.
- Give the city council and mayor the power to individually approve or reject with a simple majority vote, all current library policies as of February 21, 2023 and any new or revised policy going forward.
- Add a line to the city code that says “the city council or mayor will not initiate any book ban” but the city council will confirm or deny any book bans by the board of trustees and that decision will be final.
- Require a quarterly report in addition to the annual report. So, at the end of each quarter, a board representative will have to brief the city council on the current state of the library and any proposed library policy changes. It also adds an accounting of the usage of library computers and technology in its annual report.
- Mandate that all voting members of the board be residents of Liberty Lake. The code previously said only a majority needed to be residents.
- Add “computer or wireless device” to the list of loans that can get people a ticket for keeping them past 30 days.
Anti-camping ordinance of questionable legality
The Liberty Lake City Council is set to consider a new ordinance that would criminalize homelessness within city limits.
The ordinance would add a section to the city code related to “unlawful camping and storage of personal property on public property.” It would make it illegal to camp on any city-owned or maintained right of way, trail, park, open space, parking lot, building and grounds, etc and in any area where camping interferes with the intended public use of the property. It also lays out how the city would remove any encampments in city limits, like posting a 48-hour removal notice at camps.
A violation of the ordinance would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000, up to 90 days in jail or both.
The ordinance was crafted by a 13 member group of elected officials, city staff, fire department and school district officials and they first presented the ordinance at a city council workshop meeting in April. The ordinance preamble mentions the Martin v. Boise decision, which states that enforcing anti-camping laws against homeless people when no shelter alternatives are available is unconstitutional, but then goes on to state that there are no shelters or social services within Liberty Lake city limits.
There is a caveat within the ordinance that says that criminalizing part of this anti-camping law would be suspended if there is no space available in regional homeless shelters, but the city can still remove people who are homeless and camping in any of the city-owned spaces.
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 16 at 7 p.m.
In person at Liberty Lake City Hall or Zoom link here.
22710 E Country Vista Dr, Liberty Lake, WA
Bicycle Advisory Board
Roving bike board coming to a street near you
It’s that time of year again, when we get special ROVING BOARD MEETINGS! A special meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Board will take the board and anyone who wants to join on a ride from the Don Kardong Bridge near Gonzaga University, up to the business stretch of Hillyard, and back. Join at 5:30 p.m. at the west end of the Don Kardong Bridge (Google calls it the Centennial Trail Engineering Bridge) or at the midpoint stop at about 6:20 p.m. on the northeast corner of Queen Ave. and Market St. (5104 N Market St.). The ride will end at 7:30 p.m. at the bridge and then the board will debrief and discuss the ride.
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m.
Don Kardong Bridge/Centennial Trail Engineering Bridge
Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 16 at 4:30 p.m.
Central Library
906 W. Main Ave, Spokane
Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors
Agenda here
Thursday, May 18 at 1:30 p.m.
1230 West Boone Avenue
Spokane, WA
Watch virtually here
Housing Action Subcommittee
Agenda here (once posted)
Thursday, May 18 at 9:30 a.m.
City Council Briefing Center, Spokane City Hall - Basement
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also virtual on Microsoft Teams here.
