Post Falls looks 20 years ahead

POST FALLS — Residents heard about the city’s future and shared their priorities during a workshop about the comprehensive plan Thursday at City Hall. 

“It’s not every day you get to plan out 20 years,” Aaron Qualls of SCJ Alliance said.

Between the information collected from residents during the 2025 Post Falls Days and through a community survey, he said a number of concepts emerged from the responses. 

“We’ve heard from a lot of folks who would like to see downtown on the next level,” Qualls said.  

Preserving a quality environment for local parks and the natural areas around Post Falls like the community forest were valued as key, as was maintaining a smalltown feel.  

Qualls said creating a smalltown atmosphere is subjective and didn’t always completely match up 100% across the community responses received.  

"They’re concerned about growth and what that means for infrastructure traffic and services," he said. "Ensuring public safety is one of the most important services this city provides as the community grows."

The presentation also touched upon points from Heather Worthington of Urban3’s talk Wednesday about the importance of diverse densities.

Qualls and Worthington stressed how the "missing middle" represented important options between single-family, low-density housing and multi-family, high-density housing.

“It’s a type of zoning that used to be fairly common in cities, but they’re something that kind of fell by the wayside 30-40 years ago,” Qualls said. 

The comprehensive plan will guide how Post Falls approaches infill changes and how city officials can better implement zoning options to the community’s vision for Post Falls a reality. 

“What we are doing today is we’re starting to really look at where we are with the existing land use map and what should change,” Qualls said.