Cheney to seek code changes

Cheney’s planning department is asking the public to weigh in on two notices of application for project work — one of which is citywide.

City officials are proposing creation of an “Institutional Zone,” an amendment to Cheney’s municipal code that would set forth design parameters specific to institutional structures such as schools, the fire and police stations, City Hall and Spokane County Fire District 3’s Presley Drive headquarters — the exemption being Eastern Washington University which is already covered under a “Public” zoning code.

According to the “Determination of Non-significance” posted May 7, the institutional zone is intended to provide more flexibility when it comes to public structures and their uses. It also recognizes that a public approval process may be required for these uses prior to approval, and “that the rights of adjacent and nearby property owners should be protected.”

The State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) checklist notes the unique nature of public structures within Cheney and the role they play in the city. The DNS states further that the proposed amendments would not increase development intensity, but would increase the “consistency of the Comprehensive Plan.”

Cheney senior planner Brett Lucas said the comprehensive plan already includes a designation for an institutional zone on the plan map. The issue is the zoning map does not, with some institutional uses falling under requirements for other zoning designations such as residential.

“We’re kicking the tires on it,” Lucas said of the proposal. “It will be pretty general.”

City officials are pushing ahead with the proposed institutional zone amendments in response to a recent denial by the city’s Hearing Examiner of a height variance for the proposed 500-seat auditorium being built as part of the Cheney High School expansion project. The district had sought a variance from the height standards set forth in the single-family residential zone, where the high school is located, to allow for construction of a “fly-box” for the auditorium.

The fly-box, which would allow for light and scene rigging, has been proposed at 54 feet by the district’s architects, ALSC. The zoning only allows for structures up to 36 feet.

Hearing Examiner Brian McGinn denied the school district’s variance because the code allowed such a move only under “special circumstances relating to the size, shape, topography, location or surroundings of the subject property.”

The school district subsequently requested a reconsideration of McGinn’s decision, citing close proximity of groundwater to the surface at the site, but was also denied this in a decision on May 10. McGinn said the district’s evidence didn’t preclude the auditorium being built at the site in conformance with the height restrictions, or that an inability to excavate “is proper justification for constructing a building that is taller than the zoning allows.”

A public hearing on the proposed institutional zone is slated for the Planning Commission’s June 11 meeting. The public has until May 22 to submit comments on the SEPA checklist.

The city is also seeking public comment on a notice of application by Eastern Washington University to demolish a former dorm in order to build a parking lot. Holter House, located at the corner of Seventh and G streets, would be razed and replaced with a new lot with 27 spaces, including two ADA spaces.

The current lot at Holter House has 16 spaces. According to the SEPA, the former dorm is not occupied.

Public comments on the Holter House demolition are also due by May 22, but no public hearing is required. Demolition documents, as well as documents on the proposed institutional zone, are available at the Cheney planning department, 112 Anderson Road.

Comments can be directed to Lucas at blucas@cityofcheney.org.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.