SPOKANE, Wash. — Latah Valley could see yet another building moratorium – the second one in the last few years.
The Spokane City Council could be considering the moratorium. According to next Monday's city council agenda, the proposed ordinance would establish a one-year moratorium on subdivision applications for unplatted property in the Latah/Hangman and Grandview/Thorpe neighborhoods.
Council member Paul Dillon is one of the sponsors of the proposed ordinance.
City documents state the reasons behind the proposal are because of the significant development seen in this area and a lack of fire protection resources.
Charlene Faoro, who’s a part of her neighborhood’s landscaping committee, takes fire mitigation seriously. She’s spent much of her days recently with her neighbors cleaning up the dead branches and pine needles littering the neighborhood.
Faoro said she’s a supporter of the proposed moratorium.
“In that time, develop a plan, get your funding, define your plan, get things started,” said Faoro. “Six years down the road, it might get a fire department is not good enough.”
While she's not opposed to growth happening in Latah Valley, she wants those plans to be thought out, especially in an area where there's a temporary Spokane Fire Department fire station and not many roads in the out of the surrounding developments.
“Medical Lake was very unfortunate. That was a tragedy,” said Faoro, recalling last summer’s Gray Fire. “They had more roads in and out of there than we do. We don't have any infrastructure. If you go up in this neighborhood and you take a turn left or in some right, you're gonna hit more or less a field where you can't get through.”
For now, she'll do what she can with her neighbors in clearing the potentially dangerous fuels from around their homes.
This isn't the first time this area's been under a moratorium. The most recent one started in the fall of 2022 and lasted for six months.
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