Post Falls annex request approved
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
POST FALLS — The Post Falls City Council split the difference on a contentious annexation request on Tuesday night.
On the third motion related to landowner Nathaniel Grossglauser's request to annex 4.7 acres on the west side of McGuire Road north of Echo Drive with a medium-density multi-family residential zoning, the council voted 5-1 to approve the annexation but with a single-family residential zoning.
The decision echoed the Planning and Zoning Commission's recommendation on the proposal.
City Council members who voted in favor of the annexation with less density, including Steve Anthony, Linda Wilhelm, Joe Malloy, Kerri Thoreson and Lynn Borders, said they believe the land is a logical extension of the city boundaries, but a single-family zoning would be a better fit for the area.
Alan Wolfe was the lone dissenting vote, saying he opposed the annex request regardless of what it is zoned.
"We have a lot of developable land within the city limits now," he said.
Four residents spoke in opposition to Grossglauser's request, saying a multi-family zoning was not compatible with the area and they had concerns about the traffic such a development would bring.
"There's still plenty of land to be developed around here," said Debi Vocca, who lives on Echo Drive. "Our area is for people who want to have land around them. That is why we live there."
But Robert Grossglausser, Nathaniel's father, said it was bought for future development based on the city's comprehensive plan.
"Ultimately, we have to have a tool in which we follow," Robert said.
He said he believes multi-family was the logical zoning because the parcel is along busy McGuire Road and it would be a buffer between industrial and single-family uses.
Earlier motions to deny the annex request outright and to approve it with a medium-density multi-family zoning both failed.
- In other business, the council unanimously approved the fiscal 2019 budget of $67.2 million that has a 0 percent tax increase.
During Tuesday's second hearing on the proposal, no public comment was received.
The city has taken no tax increase in nine of the past 10 years. Cities are allowed to increase their budgets by up to 3 percent under law.
The budget includes a 2 percent cost-of-living allowance (COLA) for employees and merit increases of up to 2 percent.
It also includes an emergency communications officer, $48,000; community development director, $150,000; parks planner, $68,400; ticketing system at Q'emiln Park, $55,000; leasing of four plows with snowgates to reduce berms, $135,000; vehicle replacements, $180,000; and a seasonal parks maintenance worker, $14,800.