Contributed photo city of The accident potential zones (APZ) near Airway Heights are shown in the map above.
Airway Heights currently has an Accident Potential Zone II (APZ) near Fairchild Air Force Base that has been an issue since 1995 after there was an installation study when it was brought to everyone's attention.
According to the city's website, Airway Heights follows regulations for Air Installation Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ) from Fairchild Air Force Base, and Airport Overlay Zones (AOZ) from Spokane International Airport. AICUZ and AOZ are the accident potential zones (APZ). One of the reasons of it being important to help move the residents out of the zone is to ensure that Fairchild AFB is in no danger of leaving the area.
The APZ currently lies in the approach to Fairchild's runway near Lawson and Campbell streets.
In 2012, the former mayor of Airway Heights, Patrick Rushing, put together "Fairchild Protection and Community Empowerment Project" group to try and address the issue. At the time, they set a long-term plan that could take 5-10 years.
"We decided we cannot just shut down the houses without new houses for the owners," Derrick Braaten, Airway Heights development services director said recently. "The fact that we are not forcing people out, it is just going to take a longer time to solve the issue."
In a Nov. 8, 2012 Cheney Free Press article, the Airway Heights City Council City Council heard the results of its housing study and then showed a large percentage of residents living in APZ II would be interested in moving, if a competitive alternative housing location was offered.
The same study showed that there were approximately 300 residents living in 159 mobile homes, 16 stick-built homes and three apartment buildings inside the APZ II area. Nearly half of the mobile home units were noted as being in substandard condition, and 23 percent in poor.
Most recently, the rezoning of the area for the future living spaces was brought up to the Planning Commission and City Council. The rezone is about 20 acres of land located in the northwest quadrant of Airway Heights. The properties are proposed to go from R-1, single-family residential, to R-3, multi-family residential to accommodate the alternative housing site for the residents located south of Highway 2.
If the rezone is passed in the near future, the plan will be to build "cottage-like" housing in the area to offer new living areas to the residents that currently live in the APZ.
"We needed to build new houses and give them an offer they (residents) cannot refuse," Braaton said. "The idea behind the cottage housing was giving them an alternative place to live, but not an apartment. This way they are living in a nice area with space and a yard."
Even though details are limited right now, the city is currently working with non-profit organizations like Habitat for Humanity to help fund and build the project.
"It is a better quality of life and people will pay around the same price as they do now," Braaton said. "The goal is to have something unique to the region. It is not just going to be a lot of apartments, because that is not what they want."
If everything goes as planned, the cottages should start being built in 2018-19. The timeline of the project depends a lot on funding.
After everything is said and done, the zone will have two units per acre, which is acceptable in an APZ II, according to Braaten, even though it is not recommended.
Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.
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