Developers of property in the city of Spokane could be working under new zoning regulations by fall, and city planners claim the new standards will be more sensible and easier to use than the current ones.


The Spokane Plan Commission recently completed its review of proposed new commercial and office zoning rules and forwarded them to the City Council for hearings and a decision. New recommended industrial zoning regulations are expected to be sent to the council soon as well, to be followed later by new residential zoning regulations and sign- code adjustments.


Its all part of a mulitphase plan by the city to implement a new comprehensive land-use plan, adopted in 2001, through the creation of a development code that consolidates and simplifies currently scattered regulations.


Were doing a full rewrite. Our zoning code is 1958 vintage, and it has been amended and re-amended so many times, its got some problems. It needs to be modernized, says city planner Ken Pelton, who is overseeing the project.


What were doing is really trying to put together all of the land-use and development regulations into one chapter (of the Spokane Municipal Code) so that everything you need to know is contained there, he says.


City Councilman Al French, who serves as liaison between the City Council and the Plan Commission, says he thinks the work done to date is a good first step.


French says hes frustrated that getting proposed new development regulations to this stage has taken as long as it has, but is glad that theyre finally being brought forward for City Council action.


Right now were working with regulations that are decades old and certainly dont serve as an incentive to bring new business and jobs to the community, he says. The region hasnt suffered from lack of growth as much as the city has, and there are reasons for that.


The City Council approved a new zoning code 11 years ago, then repealed it after opponents vowed to overturn it through a referendum. This time around, to avoid a repeat of that debacle, planners are seeking to present the proposed changes in smaller, more palatable pieces.


The first piece was the City Councils adoption of centers-and-corridors design standards two years ago. Those standards spell out design criteria for 21 mixed-use areas that were identified in the new comprehensive plan as places in the city where commercial development efforts should be focused. Four of the 21 areasHillyard, the Holy Family Hospital area, West Broadway, and South Perrywere chosen for initial project planning.


The approval of new commercial and office, industrial, and residential zoning regulations are among the major pieces that come next, in staggered order, followed by the sign code revisions.


All were doing for the sign code now is changing the name of the zoning categories, and basically leaving the content of the sign code alone, Pelton says. Its being saved for last, though, he says, because, What were concerned about is the staff resources and time for doing that. It does tend to get controversial, and we want to get the more basic development regulations completed before we tackle the sign code.


Little controversy


To date, he says, the proposed new development regulations havent stirred up much opposition, and he considers them a big improvement over those currently in effect.


Were trying to consolidate a lot of things, Pelton says, such as by reducing the number of commercial and office zones to six from 19. Also, he says, efforts have been made to make the rules easier to comprehend, such as through the use of simpler wording, definitions, and illustrations.


Some developers arent happy with proposed new regulations for the citys neighborhood mixed-use zone. Those regulations would require new developments to have at least one square foot of residential space for every square foot of nonresidential space in excess of 10,000 square feet. The zone applies to areas envisioned in the comprehensive plan as small, mixed-use centerscalled mini-centersin which higher-density residential use is considered a major component. Planners believe the residential uses in that zone would provide customers and add market demand for neighborhood businesses and allow for enhanced transit services to those locations.


Despite that opposition, which has been limited, the proposed new regulations are more flexible overall in many respects than the current ones, Pelton says. For example, he notes, they would eliminate requirements that new buildings be set back a certain distance from streets, requiring instead only that unattractive, blank building walls be avoided through the use of any of various design features.


Overall, he says, hes pleased with the proposal for commercial and office zoning now in the City Councils hands.


I think its good, and the Plan Commission is happy with the product, he says. It took a lot of time to get it to this point, but I think weve got a good model for the rest of what were doing. I think for the most part it is more business-friendly than our existing codes.


Plan Commission President Candace Mumm says, I think these commercial codes do protect existing neighborhoods and keep growth where the city can best serve it, which is mostly in established business areas.


Fellow Plan Commission member Jeff Bierman says he considers the proposed new regulations to be leaps and bounds better than what weve got on the books right now. I think its a plus for the development community, and I think its a plus for the city of Spokane.