Concerned Neighbors

Location Description: 3242, 3230, 3224 N Ash Place, between N. Ash Place and N. Ash Street just southeast of the intersection of W. Liberty Avenue and N. Ash Place (parcels 25014.4207, 25014.4701, 25014.4702)

Description of Proposal: The applicant is proposing a new preliminary long plat of 21 lots on roughly 1.32 Acres utilizing the City’s Interim Zoning Ordinance C36232 – please refer to SMC Chapter 17C.400 – Interim Housing Regulations Adopted to Implement RCW 36.70A.600(1). Lots are proposed for construction of “attached” housing units as defined in SMC 17A.020.010. This proposal requires a Type III application and there will be a Public Hearing in front of the City Hearing Examiner.

• Inform neighbors!  Talk to them, direct to website.
• Use Email Template Melissa Owen, request to receive all updates for "Long Plat, 21-units, 3200 block on North Ash Place"
• Use Email Template and/or call Zach Zappone, Kitty Klitzke, and Becky Wilkerson to inform them of your concerns/opinions

• Use Email Template to contact Neighborhood Council president, Jeff Stevens, to inform him of your concerns/opinions

• Email and/or call Department of Ecology and/or call the Tribes

• Post a Yard Sign

• Review Spokane Municipal Code 17G.061.310 and 17G.080.025

• Collect pictures of water and those sustained by it (animals, fowl, reptiles, plants) in and around Drumheller

Email Template 0:  to be added to the notification list for the City of Spokane:  click here to open an email with this template

• TO:  mowen@spokanecity.org

• SUBJECT:  Long Plat, 21-units, 3200-block on North Ash Place

• Email Text:   Notice of Application. Melissa, please add me to the notice list for the Notice of Application portion of the process for "Long Plat, 21-0units, 3200-block on North Ash Place".

The Email templates below should all go TO Zack Zappone, Kitty Klitzke, and Becky Wilkerson, with CC's to Giacobbe Byrd, Nicolette Ocheltree, Melissa Owen and Jeff Stevens:

• TO:  zzappone@spokanecity.org; klitzke@spokanecity.org; bwilkerson@spokanecity.org
• CC:  gbyrd@spokanecity.org; nocheltree@spokanecity.org, mowen@spokanecity.org; audubondownriver@gmail.com
• SUBJECT:  OPPOSE the 21-unit development on North Ash Place in my residential neighborhood

Template options you may use in composing your own email:

• Email Template 1:   click here to open an email with this template

  • I have serious concerns with a planned development in my neighborhood on the 3200-block of North Ash Place.  This one development will more than double the number of housing units on the dead-end street that is Ash Place + Euclid Ave, adjacent to Drumheller Springs Park.  Drumheller Springs is a natural-area park, with wetlands, wildlife, and is an historical site for the native tribes, including a monument to the school started by Chief Garry.  Access for Emergency vehicles, especially to the development on the East side of the lot will be severely limited.  Additionally the development is for a housing type, elevation, and style that is out of character for this neighborhood and will require the Hearing Examiner to allow a deviation to allow even more dense zoning than the lenient expansion the Council already allowed for with recent changes in the Spokane Municipal Code.  I understand this development is on its way to the hearing examiner and I am in opposition to it proceeding as planned.  While I understand the need for additional housing in Spokane, I am opposed to an out-of-character townhouse development; instead I would like to see the development of detached houses that are in-character with the neighborhood.

• Email Template 2:  too long to automate, you will need to copy/paste the text, but you may click here to open an email with the TO and Subject filled out

  • RE: OPPOSE the 21-LotTownhome Development on Ash Place

    I am writing to document my opposition to the 21-Lot Townhome Project proposed for development in my neighborhood. While Whipple Consulting’s proposal might be technically allowable or legal, call it what you may, it is in no way proposed for the betterment of me or my existing neighborhood. Please note that a growing number of other nearby residents feel similarly (see other recently submitted letters of concern).

    My concerns are numerous, ranging from pedestrian safety and traffic congestion to predictable reduction in property values. And while I recognize Spokane’s need to increase affordable housing, I disagree with allowing so much of it to be concentrated across the street from such a unique area – Drumheller Springs Park. The indigenous peoples’ cultural and historical significance of this area and park is well documented; over-development as proposed would be working at cross-purpose to the decades -long effort to restore and protect Drumheller’s natural habitat – think flowers, plants, wildlife, wetlands, and relationships with Native peoples.

    While I will defer to subject matter experts for greater detail regarding anticipated negative impacts of the proposed development, please consider what I believe to be my commonsense concerns. Driving in the early morning and late afternoon is already hazardous, trying to get on and off the Ash-Maple one-way corridors, and alternate use of side streets is not safe for drivers or for student pedestrians. I understand that the project proposal includes on-site parking but realistically most residents drive multiple vehicles and seasonal clearing of  leaves and snow on Ash Place will be hampered by extra on-street parking. Last, not least, take a look at the surrounding homes and ask yourself if you would want a comparatively gigantic building built in your neighborhood if you also lived here.

    This project as proposed is inconsistent with our existing neighborhood and would be conspicuously out-of-place. And, if it were proposed to be built across the street from say, Manito Park, I doubt it would be allowed.

    Thank you for your consideration of this input.

    Sincerely,
     

• Email Template 3:  its too long to automate, so you will need to copy/paste the text, but you may click here to open an email with the TO and Subject filled out

  • RE: OPPOSE the change in lot sizes for the 21-LotTownhome Development on Ash Place

    I am writing to document my opposition to the zoning changes and change of lot sizes that will be made to accommodate the 21-Lot Townhome Project proposed for development in my neighborhood. 

    We are a small community basically surrounding Drumheller Springs Conservation Park. We would like to express some of our concerns regarding the proposed addition of 21 Townhouses identified as Ash Place Townhouse Proposal.

    Our concerns are not that we oppose the expansion or zoning laws to facilitate the affordable housing shortage in Spokane. We totally support that goal. We just think that it should be proportionate to the size of the neighborhood affected. Drumheller Springs is a small natural park in the middle of Spokane. As such, there are a limited number of houses immediately adjacent to it. It is a rather unique neighborhood that enjoys the benefits of the park and the dead-end road around it. Due to the dead-end road, there is only one way in and one way out. Any increase in traffic will have a disproportionate effect on the residents. We also get a fair number of visitors to the park who come to walk their pets or to enjoy nature.

    The aspect that we disagree with is the number of units that will be built on 1.3 acres of land. Of which almost half is too steep for housing. Therefore, you would be building 21-units on approximately 0.7 acres. This doesn’t address visitors and guest parking in the area and will infringe on access to the park by visitors.

    We believe it would be in the best interest of the city, the park, and the neighborhood to limit this addition to 4 or 5 single family homes. This would preserve the neighborhood as a unique pleasant place for everyone to live would also provide proportionate additions to housing in Spokane.

    Sincerely,
     

• Email Template 4:  click here to open an email with this template

  • RE: ADAMANTLY OPPOSE the change in lot sizes/zoning change for the 21-LotTownhome Development on Ash Place

    I am writing to document my adamant opposition to the zoning changes and change of lot sizes that will be made to accommodate the 21-Lot Townhome Project proposed for development in my neighborhood. The changes in lot sizes will cause unnecessary hardship for the surrounding neighborhood, including but not limited to the increase of off-street parking and increase traffic to a dead-end road, a building type that is completely uncharacteristic to a long-established community of detached housing, and a safety hazard inherent in dead-end streets and dead-end alleys without any turnarounds for any emergency fire and/or medical services.

    Sincerely,