The city of Spokane Planning Commission held a public hearing, March 26 to receive citizens’ comments for the West Plains Sub-area Transportation Plan.
Members of the commission held an open house in Airway Heights back in February where they showed several maps and proposals for different highway, road and beautification projects. The commission released the latest draft of the plan earlier in March.
Paul Kropp was the only citizen who gave comments at the hearing. Kropp said that while he was in favor of the plan, he said there are several complexities on some of the drafts and he wanted to bring those issues to the commission’s attention.
Kropp explained that the transportation analysis for arterials relied on old standards. He said that some of the maps show city summaries instead of borders.
Kropp also said the projections for some of the projects going to the year 2070 “were strange.”
“If I were on the planning commission, I would object to that,” Kropp said.
Planning Commission community assembly liaison Dave Burnett asked what range would be more realistic and Kropp answered “2040.”
Kropp said maps and drafts should be “made clearer” so that citizens in the West Plains can better understand the plan.
“To help the public understand, let’s be clearer about this stuff,” Kropp said.
City planner Kathleen Weinand was scheduled to make a presentation of the latest version of the West Plains plan, but the commission postponed it because they did not reach a quorum.
The commission has allowed public testimony to remain open and citizens can still make comments. A date will be set in the future for another public hearing.
Citizens who would like to submit comments or receive information can contact Weinand by phone at 509-625-6300 or by email at kweinand@spokanecity.org.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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