Planned Action Ordinance
Northeast Industrial Area Planned Action
In December of 2016, the City was awarded a competitive grant by the Washington State Department of Commerce for $114,200 to complete a planned action ordinance (PAO) for the Northeast Industrial Area (NIA). The area was identified as a community priority in the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (PDF). See page 7-129 of the Comprehensive Plan.
In March of 2019, the City of Spokane Valley adopted the NIA-PAO. Chapter 21.60 of the Spokane Valley Municipal Code (SVMC). Projects that qualify as a planned action, can use the City’s completed environmental analysis under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), and therefore, are not subject to any additional mitigations, noticing, or appeals under SEPA, except as provided in SVMC 21.60.
Interested to see if your project might qualify? Please see SVMC 21.60.
Location
The Northeast Industrial Area is located in the City of Spokane Valley’s northeast quadrant bounded by Flora Road on the west, Trent Avenue on the north, the Union Pacific line on the south and the city limits on the east. The approximate center of the project area can be further located at 47°41'32.2"N 117°09'48.2"W.
Planned Action Ordinance Benefits
Under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), a planned action ordinance is a way to have an environmental review of a specific geographic area before any permits have been filed. Projects that qualify as a planned action may use a streamlined permitting process. Being designated a planned action is voluntary and provides predictability and time savings for projects because planned actions do not require an additional processing under SEPA. This reduces time and cost for projects looking to locate in the area.
Impacts & Mitigations
The adopted Comprehensive Plan, FEIS, and development regulations project the intensity and amount of industrial development in the PAO. The PAO and associated environmental analysis further evaluates the projected industrial growth and identifies specific mitigation measures earlier in the development process and comprehensively.
The table below summarizes the impacts to the elements of the environment analyzed in the SEIS as well as the mitigation measures to address those impacts. A complete discussion of the elements of the environment considered can be found in Section 3 in the SEIS. The SEIS is available below.
| Environmental Element | Impacts | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
Air Quality | Increased industrial development is likely to increase impacts to air quality including ambient air quality, point source impacts, and increased motorized transportation emissions. |
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Surface Water and Water Runoff | Increased development on vacant land will increase impervious surface from rooftops, parking area, and access drives. |
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Historic and Cultural Resources | Increased development will increase land disturbance activities. The area has been previously disturbed by homesteading, residential subdivisions, roadway construction, utilities, railroad lines, and major industrial development. |
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Utility Provision | Increased development will require water, sewer, telecommunication, natural gas, and power. |
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Transportation | Increased demand on various local and arterial streets. |
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