Latest news with #SpokaneCountyCommission
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spokane County grants easement allowing Avista to remove overhead powerlines to lower wildfire risk
May 15—Mica Peak is about to shed the power lines hanging off its back, which should be welcome news to the homeowners near the recreation area. The Spokane County Commission voted 5-0 to grant a 10-foot-wide easement to Avista Utilities Tuesday that will allow the power company to bury their existing 1.5 mile powerline network that runs through public land on the mountain's northern face. Avista will cover the cost of the transition, according to the company's web page detailing the work. Burying the lines will lessen the risk of wildfires and power outages in the densely wooded area, and will require less maintenance, Avista spokesman David Vowels said. A number of wildfires have been linked to power equipment nationwide in recent years, including the 2020 Babb Road Fire, which sparked when a tree branch fell on an Avista powerline during a windstorm. The work on Mica Peak is part of the company's broader "strategic undergrounding" project. Avista also will transition overhead lines to underground ones in the Moran Prairie neighborhood on the South Hill and in the unincorporated community of Dartford by the end of the summer, according to the project website. In 2017, Spokane County acquired the roughly 900 acre property the power lines currently hang above for $2.3 million, a purchase that connected the Mica Peak Conservation Area to Liberty Lake Regional Park for a combined 5,300 acres of public lands. The agreement approved Tuesday replaces a 60-foot-wide one granted to the utility in 1997 by the land's former owner, Inland Empire Paper Co. It will result in a return of 50 feet of public property along the line's path from the Federal Aviation Administration radar station at the mountain's peak, north to around East Henry Road. Inland Empire is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review. Work on the underground lines will begin in mid-July, and customers in the area will be notified of any outages as a result of the work, Vowels said. Avista has agreed to rehabilitate the former easement parameters back into natural habitat. Over the next three years, Avista will "provide erosion and sediment control, reseed with native seed mixes, control noxious weeds and monitor the disturbed areas," according to a copy of the revegetation plan included in county records.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Spokane County, city meet to coordinate response to 'crisis' of opioid epidemic
Apr. 18—Leaders of both the city and the county met Friday in a rare joint meeting to address the opioid crisis in the Spokane area. Spokane County Commission chair Mary Kuney called the meeting between the city council, county commission and mayor "unprecedented." "It is important we all come together. We're showing we all care about this issue," Kuney said. The meeting was significant for the two governmental bodies that have at times found themselves at cross purposes. "The opioid epidemic is a crisis that requires a unified response. More than ever, we collectively have the power to enact meaningful change," said Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson. Over the next 20 years, the Spokane region is expected to receive at least $40 million in opioid settlement funds across various governments. Deputy city administrator Maggie Yates said she and a county counterpart have been working together on the issue. "We're looking at where we might align these visions and these different plans and how we can leverage these resources that are limited, that are finite, and how can we create a trajectory into a sustainable solution," she said. There were 352 deaths caused or related to drugs — approximately 5% of all deaths in the county last year, Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Veena Singh said at the meeting. "It is a staggering cost of people who are dying here of overdoses. To put that on the spectrum of deaths, that's about five times as many people that died of a motor vehicle crash," she said. Singh also noted more overdose deaths occur off the street than on it. "People see the unhoused using drugs because they are out in the open. But what they don't see is that actually more people are using drugs in their cars and their workplaces," she said. Wilkerson said that "goes against the narrative" often heard about the homeless. "The narrative is that this is just homeless people that are dying on the streets. But there are people living indoors that are also overdosing," she said. In response, council member Michael Cathcart said that data may be different when looking specifically in the City of Spokane, where many of the unhoused are concentrated. "I think the countywide numbers are probably very different. Because some jurisdictions don't have quite the same populations of homeless as we do in the city," he said. Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said calls related to deploying Narcan had "increased fivefold" between 2022 and 2024. "Overdose calls make up a significant portion of medical calls for both fire and police. That shouldn't surprise anybody. It is at least more than a third," he said. "This opioid epidemic is costing our emergency services system a tremendous amount of money." The rate of overdose calls has not slowed in 2025. According to Nowels, there have been 137 fentanyl-related overdose calls this year among all emergency services in the county — a 49% increase from this time last year. Singh noted these increases are "contrary to national trends," which have seen opioid overdoses decrease for the first time in years.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spokane to rejoin Aquifer Protection Area if voters approve
Apr. 14—When Spokane County asks voters to reauthorize the 40-year-old aquifer protection area for another 20 years, the city of Spokane will be included for the first time since 2004. If approved, every plot within the protection area will be charged $15 a year for programs to protect the aquifer, which supplies drinking water to approximately 500,000 people. The Spokane County Commission will have authority to place the measure on an upcoming ballot. The Spokane City Council voted unanimously Monday to request the county to include the city in the upcoming, unscheduled vote to renew the aquifer protection area. The Spokane County Aquifer Protection Area was created in 1985 to protect the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer from pollution, primarily by expanding sewer systems and ending the region's reliance on septic systems. Voters at the time overwhelmingly approved to pay the fee, which cost homeowners $15 a year for homes connected to a sewer system and $30 for homes still on septic tanks. The program was highly successful at its goals at the time. When the Aquifer Protection Area was first approved, there were about 40,000 septic tanks in the "aquifer sensitive area," including 2,700 in the city of Spokane. By 2004, there had been a net reduction of 20,000 septic tanks, of which fewer than 350 were left in city limits. The city pulled out of the protection area, arguing it needed more control over the funds paid by its residents, though its leaders ultimately decided against creating its own fee system. When voters narrowly approved renewing the aquifer protection fees in 2004, the city of Spokane wasn't included. But the focus has shifted from sewage to modern pollutants, and city leaders have requested to rejoin the aquifer protection area. The new agreement would only allow city ratepayer funds to leave the city for limited education and testing programs that benefit the entire aquifer system, but not for subsidizing infrastructure in other cities, according to Marlene Feist, director of Spokane's public works division. If voters approve reauthorizing the aquifer protection area for another 20 years, it would cost $15 per year for single-family homes connected to water. Multifamily and commercial properties would be charged based on the size of their water meters. The protection area also imposes an additional maximum $15 annual fee for homes not connected to municipal sewer systems. Only the 300 or so homes among the city's 75,000 utility accounts are still not connected to the city sewer system and would have to pay the fee .
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What are the top issues in the area? Spokane County Commissioners, Spokane City Council to host joint meeting to discuss opioids and more problems facing region
Feb. 25—Spokane County and its largest city haven't had the best of relationships in recent years. That could change as the elected representatives for both are seeking to hold roundtable discussions on the region's largest issues. Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Spokane County Commission Chair Mary Kuney are working to bring their respective boards together for a conversation on the opioid epidemic and drug use in what could be the first meeting in a continuing series. Kuney shared the idea with the county's governing board Tuesday after she and Wilkerson began discussing the possibility earlier this year, according to an email from Wilkerson shared during the meeting. Wilkerson suggested the first meeting could include federal agencies to understand their activity in the region, as well as discussion of a potential partnership to leverage millions in settlement funds that each government received from a series of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors. In her email, Wilkerson went on to say there are "many issues that are regional that we have not discussed together," and asked for suggestions on other areas of focus. During Tuesday's meeting, Kuney also indicated the meeting could be the first of many. Other issues that may arise at the meetings include Spokane County's 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update, as well as housing and homelessness services, while the city continues to transition into a scattered-site shelter model. The two boards may also revisit discussions over regional 911 dispatch service, following a yearslong back and forth that appeared to end earlier this year when Spokane Regional Emergency Communications told the city it had until January to set up its own answering point and dispatch services for police and fire. Kuney and Wilkerson will work to set a time for the meeting in the coming weeks.
