Urbanism and affordable housing at Spokane City Council

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 taking a look at a spread of affordable housing legislation tonight, including approving a tax exemption to turn a parking lot into housing and a law to waive some fees for new “streateries” and “parklets.”
The Urban Experience Committee will discuss an update on the city’s most recent comprehensive homelessness analysis, plus a slate of new affordable housing projects recommended for funding.
Spokane Valley is setting a public hearing to discuss its emergency ordinance codified in February that bans battery energy storage facilities from the city.
Spokane County voters may get a chance to approve a protection district for the contaminated aquifers that run under the West Plains.

Important meetings this week:

Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
Urban Experience Committee
Bicycle Advisory Board
Board of County Commissioners - Briefing Session and Legislative Session
Spokane School District Board of Directors
Spokane Valley City Council
Liberty Lake City Council

Spokane City Council

🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Parking 2 People

In 2023, Spokane became the first city in Washington to adopt a tax incentive approved by the Washington State Legislature that would allow developers to turn parking lots or other underdeveloped lots into residential housing without having to pay sales or use taxes on the construction of residential improvements — on the condition that at least 50% of the units in the new construction are reserved for affordable multifamily housing.

Tonight, council could approve the tax deferral for the Northeast Public Development Authority to create a mixed-use building with at least 25 housing units at 3011 E. Wellesley Avenue in Hillyard. There would also be commercial units on the ground floor. In order to be eligible for the tax credit, work must be completed on this project within three years.

Safe Streets funding spend

Council could also approve an expansion of an existing contract with DOWL Consulting Services to spend $163,838 from the Safe Streets For All Fund. If approved, DOWL consulting would use $75,000 of that to conduct a speed control pilot study on Maple and Ash, and work on amendments to the traffic control plans for 2026 and 2027.

Affordable housing funding priorities

Previously known as the 1590 fund — in reference to the state law that allowed the city to collect the sales tax to seed it — the HEART fund spending priorities are set to be approved today. In general, the rules governing the fund state that 70% must be spent on things like building affordable housing, supporting or acquiring behavioral health facilities and funding operation of these facilities. The other 30% can be spent on the “Legal Services and Relocation Fund,” — which helps tenants relocate if landlords violate habitability requirements — and costs related to operating behavioral health and housing-related services and programs.

The specific item up for a vote today would set the priorities for the committee reviewing proposals for the funding and state that a minimum of 80% of the 70% of revenue earmarked for capital expenses should exclusively fund affordable housing projects and not behavioral health projects.

Last week, the council approved an amendment from Council President Betsy Wilkerson that lays out 10 specific types of projects the council wants to fund from HEART dollars this year:

Constructing mixed-use housing
Constructing new units of affordable housing
Creating permanently affordable housing, defined as maintaining affordability for households earning up to 60% of AMI for at least forty (40) years for rental housing and for at least twenty-five (25) years for owner-occupied housing
Addressing the racial wealth gap through increasing homeownership for populations that have historically been subject to discrimination in housing markets or housing policy
Distributing attainable housing throughout the city, in a variety of neighborhoods and in closer proximity to services such as parks and open space, schools and grocery stores
Constructing units that are safe and accessible, regardless of age, physical ability or stature
Projects which include anti-displacement strategies
Constructing or rehabilitating new units of affordable housing, that would break ground for construction within 12 months and/or be “move-in ready” within 18 months.
Constructing new units of affordable housing that allow for occupant homeownership, rent-to-own leases, or cooperatively-owned multi-family projects.
The provider must document a realistic and achievable capital stack strategy that identifies prospective follow-on funding sources, including Housing Trust Fund opportunities, and provides evidence of alignment with eligibility criteria, application timelines and project readiness benchmarks

Parklets, streateries and sidewalk cafes

Tonight, the city council will vote on an ordinance that’s aiming to “encourage the activation of public spaces,” by making it easier and cheaper for businesses to take over sidewalk chunks, parking spots or loading zones to use as “parklets,” “streateries” and “sidewalk cafes.” The common denominator of these cutesy names is that they put something else — like seating — in what was either a parking spot or an extra chunk of sidewalk. Here’s photos of a few examples that were included in the committee agenda where this was briefed:

*A “streatery,” that extends the adjacent businesses’ seating into the parking spot in front.*

*The permitted sidewalk cafe at The Yards in Spokane.*

While all these uses have technically been allowed since 2017, few streateries and sidewalk cafes — and no parklets — have actually been permitted, which the city thinks is due to a high upfront cost to set up the spaces on top of city fees and noticing requirements.

The ordinance would waive two fees until December 31, 2027: the annual $150 licensing fee for sidewalk cafes, parklets and streateries and a new annual $100 outdoor alcohol service fee. It also eases the notice requirement, moving it back from a minimum 10-day notice period to a maximum 10-day comment period that just requires a business to post their intent to take over the spot to a visible public area, rather than having to mail it to every property owner, tenant and building manager.

Agenda here
Monday, March 16 at 6 pm
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane City Council Study Sessions

Agenda here when available.
Thursday, May 16 at 11 am
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Urban Experience Committee (Spokane city)

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Longitudinal look at homelessness

There’s no additional data included in the packet, but today, CHHS Director Dawn Kinder is set to present an update on the longitudinal systems analysis (LSA) report to the council. The LSA is a more comprehensive and accurate way of studying how many people use homelessness services and their outcomes. Earlier this year, Kinder presented preliminary data, which we discussed with her and former RANGE reporter and current Waters Meet storyteller Carl Segerstrom on The Pod in January.

Funding for home investment

The city is set to receive about $2.5 million in funding to be used on affordable housing projects that “increase and/or preserve the supply of affordable housing units serving extremely-

low (30% of Area Median Income) and very-low-income households (below 50% of Area Median Income) in the City of Spokane,” according to the notice of funding availability. The CHHS board has reviewed application and recommended the following projects to the council to be funded:

$1,191,000 to Proclaim Liberty, a project spearheaded by Bethany Presbyterian Church that plans to put 22 units of affordable housing in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood
$341,025 to the Volunteers of America for rehabilitating Alexandria’s House, a licensed maternity group home in Spokane for pregnant and parenting homeless teens.
$352,200 to Take Up The Cause for rehabilitation of the Beloved Sunset apartments, which have more than 50 units for low-income families and individuals under 60% of the area median income
$152,725 to Trinity Transitional Housing to rehabilitate Maxwell House, which has units available for women with children to “rebuild their lives after treatment or incarceration.”
$420,000 to Vasilenko for attached townhomes at South Crystal Ridge

Agenda here
Monday, March 16 at 12 pm
Council Briefing Center
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Bicycle Advisory Board

🌶️/5 peppers

Agenda here
Tuesday, March 17 at 4:30 pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 W. Wellesley Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Ballot measure for West Plains aquifer protection

The county wants to place an item on August primary ballots that would create a protection district for the underground water that feeds much of the rural rural areas between Spokane and Airway Heights. The aquifers out there are contaminated by forever chemicals. The protection district would allow the county “to collect funds for water-related activities such as construction of infrastructure, planning and education programs.” It’s the same mechanism that funds protection of the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, which feeds half a million people in Spokane County.

Agenda here
Tuesday, March 17 at 9 am
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session

🌶️/5 peppers

Agenda here
Tuesday, March 17 at 2 pm
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane School District Board of Directors

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

What’s next for the school/park levies we passed?

The public can tune in on a presentation that will give them an update on Together Spokane, the partnership between distinct entities focused on “the future of our city’s parks, schools, and neighborhoods.”

The update to the board is expected to include timelines, key updates for the project’s phase one and a planning overview for the next two phases. The presentation slides are available on the agenda.

“Revising school district officers”

The board could also approve a resolution to designate people to 16 district officer roles, including a secretary to the board, a Title IX/Staff Civil Rights Officer and Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying (HIB)/Student Civil Rights Officer.

The full list can be viewed through the board’s agenda.

Agenda here
Wednesday, March 18 at 6 pm
200 N. Bernard, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Valley City Council

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

No battery energy storage in SpoVal

The city council in February prohibited battery energy storage facilities within the city limits with an emergency ordinance that’s temporary in nature. This week, it will schedule a public hearing about the energy storage technology. The agenda item for this says the city is trying to protect public safety. Battery energy storage allows jurisdictions to store energy from renewable sources like sun and wind, reserving it for periods of high demand. The main knock on renewable energy is that it’s intermittent, meaning no electricity is generated when the sun hides behind clouds or the wind stops and battery energy storage is the solution to this.