SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – A developer is proposing a nearly 50-acre project in Spokane Valley that would add up to 150 homes and a church community center. Neighbors in the Ponderosa area say the plan could bring more traffic, safety risks and a loss of open space.
The project sits in the Ponderosa neighborhood, west of Dishman Mica Road and north of Schafer Road. The parcel lies behind rows of existing homes. If the city approves the proposal, the land would be filled with 150 new homes.
Several nearby residents oppose the plan. Craig Fairhurst has lived in the neighborhood for decades and said he has not heard from anyone who supports the project.
“I have yet to hear a single person who was in favor of it and, I don’t think they’re against development, they’re against what this is going to be,” Fairhurst said.
Fairhurst also said he expects the new homes to change the views in the area.
“The fact is they’re probably going to be two story houses all the way in there and you know the view across to Dishman Mica that’s all going to go away,” Fairhurst said.
Fairhurst described a sense that longtime residents are being asked to adjust to the developers’ plans.
“The rest of us that have grown up here are forced to bend our rules and our way we look at things to their thinking,” Fairhurst said.
Safety is a major concern for many neighbors. A Ponderosa mother said the neighborhood has only two exits and she worries about evacuation if a fire breaks out. Alta Meadows, a Ponderosa resident, asked how quickly families could leave the area and whether the roads could become a bottleneck.
“How fast can I get my family out right and how much of a bottle neck would it be? I mean do you…walk?” Meadows said.
Meadows also said the area already has speeding problems and that the added residents could make the roads less safe. She wrote a letter to the developers this summer expressing her concerns.
“People drive faster than the posted 25 miles per hour already and so then there’s another 900 plus people who may or may not obey the speed limit and we know people are more distracted because of electronic devices so I just feel like it’s reckless,” Meadows said.
Meadows added that approving the project before a second road is built is a mistake.
“Its reckless to make a decision without first paying for another road out of this area,” Meadows said.
Residents also raised concerns about a possible drop in water pressure and the loss of the open field.
The developers are holding a meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church to discuss traffic changes and respond to neighbors’ concerns.
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