Spokane County Commission candidates at odds over urban growth boundary – Thu, 23 Oct 2014 PST

The future of a neighborhood in north Spokane County has become one of the most debated topics in this years race for CountyCommission.

Al French and his fellow Republican Commissioner Todd Mielke say expanding the urban growth boundary to include the area along U.S. Highway 2 is necessary to protect the Little Spokane River from sewage runoff seeping from aging septic tanks. The extension of the growth boundary, a designation that enables governments to extend services such as sewer lines, would solve a problem before it gets out of control, theysaid.

This is the difference between

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The future of a neighborhood in north Spokane County has become one of the most debated topics in this years race for CountyCommission.

Al French and his fellow Republican Commissioner Todd Mielke say expanding the urban growth boundary to include the area along U.S. Highway 2 is necessary to protect the Little Spokane River from sewage runoff seeping from aging septic tanks. The extension of the growth boundary, a designation that enables governments to extend services such as sewer lines, would solve a problem before it gets out of control, theysaid.

This is the difference between being a leader and reacting to a situation, Frenchsaid.

But Mary Lou Johnson, a Democrat who is challenging French in the November election, says commissioners are using the ecological issue as a smoke screen to enable commercial development. Expanding the growth boundary also enables zoning changes that could bring in denser development, which Johnson would prefer to see within citylimits.

Attorney Rick Eichstaedt, who has represented in courts and legal hearings a coalition of neighborhood members who consistently challenge the county on its land-use policies, said the environmental concerns raised by Mielke and French are an attempt to explain a decision thats already beenmade.

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Spokane County Commission candidates at odds over urban growth boundary - Thu, 23 Oct 2014 PST