Saying the city of Airway Heights is shutting down many construction projects by enforcing its building regulations too stringently, some Airway Heights businessmen are concerned that city officials are hurting business development in the small town west of Spokane.


The citys mayor, however, says he doesnt believe there is a problem with the way the citys building department is interpreting the building code.


John Barrier, president of Barrier Industries Inc. and owner of the West Spokane Industrial Park, says his company recently has received stop-work orders for building projects totaling about 100,000 square feet of floor space.


Reasons vary, Barrier says. For example, one building project at the West Spokane Industrial Park has been shut down, he says, because plans he submitted didnt show where a handful of part-time employees will park. He says that shouldnt be enough to hold up the entire project.


Construction projects for other companies are being shut down unnecessarily, Barrier says.


There isnt one project that hasnt been shut down, he contends.


However, Airway Heights Mayor Brian Grady says he isnt aware of any other projects that have been shut down. He also says he isnt aware of any unusually strict building-code enforcement.


We dont see a problem, says Grady, who owns an excavation company named Gradys Inc. There are rules and regulations that we follow, just like Spokane and every other city.


He says the city hasnt tightened city ordinances or codes recently that would affect development. The only change, Grady says, is that a new building inspector was hired about six months ago. However, he says the new inspectors job performance has been satisfactory.


Also, Grady adds, he doesnt think its unusual for businessmen to be frustrated when building inspectors stop work on a project.


Airway Heights City Councilman and businessman Claude Hicks says the problem lies with the manner in which the code is being enforced.


They give no leeway, says Hicks, who owns Hicks Hardware on U.S. 2 in Airway Heights. Theyre trying to hurt the people instead of helping the people.


Like Barrier, Hicks says he feels as though the citys building inspectors have unfairly scrutinized his business.


For example, his company built a 10,800-square-foot warehouse in 1996 next to its retail store. Hicks says the project was approved back then by the city building department, but building inspectors revisited recently, looking for things that might be wrong with the structure, even though the city issued final approval to him to use the building and he has been using it ever since. To date, he says the officials havent found anything that he must change or fix.


They are making it very hard for people to keep on doing what theyre doing, Hicks says.