Commission OKs Alki land swap

Expressing feelings of frustration, Cheney's Planning Commission approved a request during a public hearing at its Sept. 10 meeting to swap the zoning of land along Alki Street slated to be developed into a 224-unit apartment complex. The commission approved the request by Whipple Consulting Engineers, representing owner Defender Development, 5-0, with commission chair Vince Barthels recusing himself due to a conflict with the owner.

The request involves changing the zoning on approximately 2.8 acres on 12.1 acres of land owned by Cheney developer Steve Emtman. The changes would redistribute land around a wetland on the site by changing the designation along a strip of Alki from R-3/multifamily residential to R-3H/high density multifamily residential.

An equal amount of land along the northern boundary of the wetland currently zoned R-3H would then become R-3. The rezoning would allow Defender Development to construct a four-story building along Alki Street as part of the four-building complex.

"We think it's a straight forward change," engineer Todd Whipple told the commission. "We hope you see it as a straight forward issue."

Commissioners saw the issue as something essentially pre-destined. According to the staff report on the rezone, the site was brought into Cheney in 2004 as R-3, with the eastern portion rezoned R-3H in 2010.

Since 2010, developments such as The Grove student apartments and other multifamily units along Alki Street and Blackhawks Lane have sprung up. If built, the proposed Alki Street apartments would also provide 420-500 parking spaces in order to comply with new city requirements of one off-street parking space per bedroom in multifamily developments.

Whipple pointed out that given the amount of multifamily-zoned land remaining on that side of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroad tracks, the area could see up to 3,000 more people in the future. Commissioners raised the issue of problems this is already causing regarding traffic increases on First Street - which is seeing backups as trains pass through the city.

Officials with Cheney's fire and police department also commented in the staff report that between 2013 and 2017, the area had 175 fire-related calls and 1,232 police-related calls - calls that run the risk of being delayed by trains.

"This should have never been zoned residential," Commissioner Dan Turbeville said. "I wasn't on the commission when this happened, but I would have fought it tooth and nail."

Turbeville pointed out issues not only with access, but with the city's potable water infrastructure's ability to supply the area. He also questioned a trip generation letter accompanying the application that indicated the proposed apartment complex would result in a total of 99 more vehicle trips per day over current levels, when the complex itself could house 500 more people.

"I think this hasn't been well thought out, and it goes way back," Turbeville said, noting that Sept. 13 was the 50th anniversary of the day his sister was killed at a railroad crossing next to her college campus as she was returning home.

"It is inevitable something like that will happen here," he said. "It's going to be really ugly for the city of Cheney and all of us too."

Commissioner Rick Mount voiced the opinion of other commissioners when he said the zoning change was inevitably a "done deal."

"We're taking the heat for bad decisions made before anyone of us were on this commission," he said. "What other skeletons are going to jump out of the closet that we're going to have to deal with?"

Senior planner Brett Lucas told the commission the city's "meal ticket" to resolution of some of these concerns was that certain conditions of approval are incorporated into a Developers Agreement between Defender and Cheney. Those conditions included a traffic impact study submitted before issuance of a building permit that included level of service analysis for all associated intersections, a plan for getting pedestrians and bicycles safely across State Route 904 and evaluation of train activity in terms of potential backups.

The agreement also requires the applicant to develop a security plan for the complex.

The application now heads to the City Council for its approval, which could take place at the Oct. 23 meeting.

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