Welcome to CIVICS, where we break down the week’s municipal meetings throughout the Inland Northwest, so you can get involved and speak out about the issues you care about.
Some things that stick out to us this week include:
- Spokane City Council is continuing to study the city’s capacity for growth, and could vote tonight on a resolution to accept the findings of a 2025 capacity study.
- At the Urban Experience Committee, Spokane city council members are going to continue to talk about land capacity, but this time in a 45 minute discussion with local developers.
- Is there PFAS in your drinking water? The Spokane City Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board is getting an informational presentation on poision in the water.
- Mead School Board will discuss potential amendments to the statewide Washington Interscholastic Activities handbook, which could severely limit transgender kids from playing sports. They’ll also be talking compliance with statewide DEI policies.
- The county is discussing a resolution to comply with a new state law — approved by voters in November — that bars governments from banning or discouraging fossil, or "natural," gas, a potent greenhouse gas.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council
- Urban Experience Committee
- Spokane Plan Commission
- Spokane City Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board
- Spokane Park Board
- Spokane Regional Transportation Council
- Mead School District Board of Directors
- Central Valley School District Board of Directors
- Spokane School District Board of Directors
- Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing & Legislative Session
- Spokane County Planning Commission
- Spokane Valley City Council
Spokane City Council
🌶️/5 peppers
Keep your fingers crossed, but it looks like a short council meeting tonight. The consent agenda is a few contracts for stormwater and streets improvements and the items we covered in last week’s sneak peek got deferred until March 24. So for tonight, there were really only two items that caught our attention:
Street safety near schools
Council could approve a $1,105,143 contract with the William Winkler Company for construction to make the area around Scott Elementary safer for pedestrians. The projects listed to make the area safer include sidewalk infill, additional crosswalks and curb extensions. It’s a spot of good news for traffic safety as advocates pushed council for more action on their Safe Streets initiative last week.
More on the land capacity analysis
Two weeks ago, the Spokane Plan Commission heard a presentation on the 2025 Land Capacity Analysis, which was to determine how much growth Spokane can expect, and how much room we have to house that growth. Council was scheduled to discuss the analysis and vote to acknowledge its completion last week — which found we’ll need an estimated 22,359 housing units to accommodate both new residents and Spokane’s current unhoused population — but deferred that vote until today.
And it looks like the item got a bit more interesting: Council Member Michael Cathcart has submitted an amendment that would change the wording of the council’s resolution to accept the analysis. Currently, the resolution is pretty plain, just stating that the council accepts the analysis and its conclusion has the capacity to accommodate growth within the city limits through 2046. Basically, stating that Spokane has room to create housing and services for the people who currently live here and the estimated additional folks who might move here.
Cathcart’s resolution would add some nuance and assertions to that, saying that even if the city didn’t use any of the potential development capacity in the "underutilized land” category, growth could still be accommodated. He also added an additional clause stating that “capacity alone does not translate into actual growth,” and listing some of the things Spokane should do to unlock its full growth potential, like:
- a robust planning framework
- critical updates to the City’s Comprehensive Plan
- modernization of development codes; and
- refinement of internal processes
Next week sneak peek:
There’s not much to peek at: next week’s meeting is canceled. But council is replacing it with a Town Hall in District 1 for members of the Bemiss, Chief Garry Park, Hillyard, Logan, Minnehaha, Nevada Heights, Riverside, Shiloh Hills, and Whitman neighborhoods. The meeting will be held at the Northeast Community Center (4001 N. Cook St.) in the Lower-level Main Room and will give council a chance to hear community comments from folks in those neighborhoods and answer any questions that come up. No official votes or city action will happen at this Town Hall.
Agenda here
Monday, March 10, at 6 pm
808 W. Spokane Falls Boulevard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Urban Experience Committee
🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Developers do land capacity
There’s no background information included for this item, but it looks like council is scheduled to spend nearly an hour continuing the discussion on land capacity in the city, this time with both staff and local developers adding to the conversation. We can’t make any promises, but this looks like it might be an interesting watch, especially for density and development wonks.
Housing and homelessness report
Hey look! Another item with no supporting materials attached in the agenda — but the Community, Housing & Human Services (CHHS) department will be giving a quarterly report on their Homeless Housing, Operations, and Services Grant Program. This program “combines federal, state and local homeless resources into a single grant opportunity,” and is supposed to help fund rapid re-housing of households and do upstream programs to prevent homelessness. Hopefully, the presentation will include statistics on how effective the program has been so far, and how it might be impacted by federal funding freezes.
Agenda here
Monday, March 10 at 12 pm
Council Briefing Center in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Plan Commission
🌶️/5 peppers
Density near Division
The Spokane Plan Commission is holding a workshop this week to discuss density near Division. This is part of the Division Street transit-oriented development project, a collaboration between Spokane City, Spokane County and the Spokane Transit Authority which aims to encourage dense housing development along the Division Street corridor following the creation of STA’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) — a high-performance bus route like the City Line that will zip up and down Division, enabling regular, efficient public transit up the busy corridor.
In order to accomplish transit-oriented development along Division, the regional agencies need to align their land use goals, zoning and infrastructure. The project is funded by a $405,000 federal grant. You can learn more about it all here.
Agenda here
Wednesday, March 12 at 2 pm
Council Briefing Center
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane City Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers for global warming, 🌶️/5 peppers for the actual meeting content
Informational talk on PFAS in Spokane drinking water
‘Forever chemicals,’ increasingly linked to cancer and other serious diseases, are a threat to public health in the Inland Northwest, rising to infamy in 2017 after Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport discovered them in public drinking water. That contamination was caused by a firefighting chemical the base accidentally washed into local aquifers. Researchers have found levels of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, at hundreds of times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.
But the chemicals are also found in an array of products, like nonstick cookware and fast food wrappers. That means that, at lower levels, they are much more pervasive than their presence in ground water on the West Plains. They are basically everywhere, even in the rain and the blood of most humans (in trace amounts). In 2023, Spokane, working alongside the Washington Department of Health, found them in our drinking water for the first time. Loren Searl, superintendent of water for the city of Spokane, will give an informational presentation to the Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board about the presence of the chemicals in city water.
Agenda here
Thursday, March 13 at 2 pm
Council Briefing Center in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Parks Board
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here when available
Thursday, March 13 at 3:30 pm
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
he meeting is also live streamed via WebEx,
Call in: 408-418-9388 Access code: 2491 764 3350
Spokane Regional Transportation Council
🌶️/5 peppers
Horizon 2050 workshop
Just as Washington state requires local governments to plan ahead for how they want their communities to look 25 years from now, the SRTC is required by the federal government to plan for how the community wants transportation to look in the long-term. The process is known formally as the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, but has been dubbed “Horizon 2050.” The council is hosting an interactive workshop that will discuss important things like how transportation will affect “regional growth, mobility, funding, safety, technology and infrastructure.”
How will federal direction impact transportation in the Spokane region?
SRTC will host an open discussion on the “Federal Direction” for transportation in the region. What is the federal direction? The council agenda does not expound on this, but if the news is any indication, federal resources will prioritize areas that have high marriage and fertility rates. According to The Associated Press, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a memo to Department of Transportation (DOT) employees that places with lots of matrimony and babies will get the most love from DOT in the form of grants. Washington Senator Patty Murray described the stance as “disturbingly dystopian.”
Spokane County has a lower-than-average fertility rate of 5.1%, compared with a 5.4% fertility nationwide.
Agenda here
Thursday, March 13 at 1 pm
Spokane Regional Transportation Office
21 W Riverside Ave, Suite 504, Spokane, WA 99201The meeting is also live streamed here.
Mead School District Board of Directors
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Activities amendments
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) — the nonprofit organization that oversees sports and other activities in Washington — is scheduled to meet in April to vote on a slate of amendments that would change their governing policy.
Some of those amendments are technical changes to things like how baseball players should care for their throwing arms, but other amendments are things like “Participation in girls’ sports would be limited to biological females,” and “Athletic programs would be offered separately for boys, girls, and an open division for all students interested.”
Currently, the WIAA handbook reads “All students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity,” but if these amendments pass, transgender athletes could be severely limited in their sports participation.
This week, the Mead School Board will review the amendments to the WIAA code and discuss their position on them. We’re unsure how they feel about the proper baseball arm care, but we’re pretty sure we know where they stand on trans kids in sports. It’s also interesting how much time the board has spent talking about trans kids' sports participation when they’ve got bigger sports issues to deal with: the school district was just declared in contempt of court for withholding evidence in a lawsuit filed by former football players alleging assault, bullying and racial discrimination.
Even if the WIAA were to pass the transphobic amendments, it’s unclear exactly what will happen, because it’s a nonprofit subject to state law. And, state law requires that schools “allow all students, including transgender and nonbinary students, the opportunity to participate on the interscholastic sports team that most closely aligns with their gender identity,” according the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This is further complicated by President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports teams, which is currently being fought in court. The WIAA amendment vote is a month away, and we’ll be following this story.
Civil Rights Review
The Directors are reviewing the district’s compliance with state rules and regulations related to civil rights. Last month, the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction directed schools in the state not to heed a letter from the Trump administration threatening to rescind federal funding from any district that has diversity, equity and inclusion policies or practices.
School districts are required to evaluate their compliance with civil rights rules, investigating whether the district is in compliance with four areas of state law regarding:
- Policies and procedures for nondiscrimination, sex-based discrimination (formerly sexual harassment), and gender-inclusive schools.
- Handbook and website notices to the school community about discrimination, sexual harassment, complaint processes, and genderinclusive schools.
- Staff training on responsibilities under state nondiscrimination law and eliminating bias.
- Designated coordinators and their training, including coordinators for civil rights, Title IX,Section 504, and gender-inclusive schools.
Agenda here
Monday, March 10 at 6 p.m.
Union Event Center
12509 N. Market St. Bldg. D, Mead, WA 99021
Watch via Zoom here.
Central Valley School District Board of Directors
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Monday, March 10 at 6 p.m.
Learning and Teaching Center (district office)
Board Room at 2218 N Molter Rd, Liberty Lake
Watch via Zoom here.
Spokane School District Board of Directors (Special Meeting)
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Wednesday, March 12 at 4:30 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane School District Board of Directors
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Wednesday, March 12 at 6 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 11 at 9 am
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Figuring out I-2066
Last year, Washingtonians voted to bar governments from prohibiting or discouraging the use of fossil or “natural” gas, a potent heat-trapping gas. Initiative 2066 was the sole initiative of four proposed by the conservative fossil fuel-funded organization Let’s Go Washington to pass in November. It requires “utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to eligible customers; prevent state approval of rate plans requiring or incentivizing gas service termination, restricting access to gas service, or making it cost-prohibitive; and prohibit the state energy code, localities, and air pollution control agencies from penalizing gas use.” It was a blow to environment advocates who say the continued use of fossil gas will pollute the air and worsen climate change. Regardless, governments in Washington have to allow providers to sell fossil gas now.
The BOCC wants to establish an interim resolution that would codify the county’s compliance with the initiative until the State Building Code Council, which advises governments on how to implement policy, can issue direct advice. They’ll discuss the interim policy Tuesday.
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 10 at 2 pm
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Airport Board
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here.
Thursday, March 13 at 9 am
Airport Event Center
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane, WA 99224
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane County Planning Commission
🌶️/5 peppers
Another “charrette” for community planning
The commission will hold another fancy-sounding charrette — which is just a meeting to give people who live in Spokane County an opportunity to hash out differences — on “placemaking and resiliency” in community planning.
Agenda here
Thursday, March 13 at 9 am
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Valley City Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Fully staffed SVPD
Spokane Valley Police Chief Dave Ellis had a good year, he’ll tell the City Council on March 11. After the city invested millions in federal grant money in public safety, mostly toward boosting its police force, the Spokane Valley Police Department (SVPD) and the Spokane County Sheriff, which is the parent agency for SVPD, have hired 45 new people. Nineteen are entry-level cops and 26 are “lateral transfers,” meaning they came to the forces from other departments around the country and state.
Ellis’s presentation does not note how many of the new hires are SVPD officers and how many are Sheriff’s deputies, but the SVPD website says the City Council had approved 10 new dedicated police officers in February 2024. The presentation says SVPD is now “fully staffed.” Ellis notes that 23 people left the department during the same time, making for a net gain of 22 new officers. The department has 91 dedicated officers and it “shares” an additional 37 with the Sheriff’s Office.
Commission appointment
The City Council is set to appoint Amanda Alcamo to the Spokane Valley Tourism Promotion Area Commission.
Agenda here when available
Tuesday, March 11 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.
