Preparing for Spokane's future

As reported in the Journal of Business by LeAnnBjerken

It’s only been a year since Lisa Key started her position as director of planning for the city of Spokane, but within that time, she says she’s been on the front lines of some big changes, particularly downtown and in the U District. 

“Projects that have been years in planning are now coming to fruition, and opportunities for new investment are everywhere,” Key says. “The work we’re doing now will set the stage for how this area is going to look and function in the next 10 years.”

As planning director, Key is responsible for overseeing four main teams within the city’s planning department. Those include economic development and land use, neighborhood planning and codes, urban design, and a citywide team that focuses on coordinating with other organizations on regional projects.

“We’ve also gone through and aligned staff within this division to follow up with specific geographic areas, so they can relate to and communicate easily with various neighborhoods and the councils therein,” she says. “My job is basically facilitating the implementation of tasks, and making certain the community is actively engaged in that process.”

Key says prior to her hiring, the position was altered somewhat from how it functioned under her predecessor Scott Chesney, who was forced to resign in November of 2014.  

“The previous director oversaw both development review services (things like site plans, building permits, land development processes) and planning review,” she says. “I still have some responsibilities associated with the development review side, but this allows for a much more streamlined permitting process.” 

Originally from Pennsylvania, Key holds bachelor’s degrees in community development and political science, both from Pennsylvania State University.  

“I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, as a coal miner’s daughter, in a county with a 19 percent unemployment rate,” she says. “Growing up there gave me ambition to change the world for the better.”

Key says she spent the first 20 years of her career in upstate New York, gaining a background in land-use planning, environmental planning, community development, waste planning, and economic development. 

She moved to the Inland Northwest 15 years ago, and spent eight years as community development director for the city of Hayden. During most of that time, Key also served as hearing examiner for Kootenai County. 

Prior to starting her current position, Key worked for four years as a project manager with David Evans & Associates Inc., a Portland-based consulting firm that works in transportation, land development, energy, and water projects. 

“I’ve worked in both the private and public sectors, but I chose this position because I wanted to work with the public side again, to be a part of the community and the renaissance I see happening here,” she says. 

Since moving to Spokane, Key says she’s witnessed the evolution of the city’s downtown, and U District particularly, with planned projects meant to improve infrastructure and transportation encouraging investment in housing and mixed-use developments there. 

“Even out-of-town visitors see the progress so far and are encouraged by downtown’s beauty and vibrancy,” she says. “Continued investments in these projects will further energize downtown, and the planning department wants to be sure to facilitate that investment.” 

She says that in the past year, the city has seen a resurgence in building permits for both residential and commercial projects. 

“It’s been increasing steadily the last few years,” she says. “In 2016, we had 400 building permits for new housing, compared to 353 in 2015.” 

As investment occurs, she says, the planning department wants to stay on top of infrastructure needs and ensure development is happening in sustainable ways.

“We have to make sure there is adequate housing to support economic growth, and that it’s consistent with the community’s vision,” she says. 

As part of keeping up with that vision, Key says her department’s main focus during the past year has been preparing for updates to the Comprehensive Plan, a document that guides future development of the city and its defined Urban Growth Area.

 “The comprehensive plan is due for a mandated update this June,” she says. “There are some good projects included, but they can’t all be fit into one round of implementation, so we’re creating a new approach to determining which are ready for approval and which need additional considerations.” 

Key says the approach is similar to what most other jurisdictions in Washington have in place, a kind of docketing system that will review proposed amendments for timeliness, documented needs, and other factors. 

While she doesn’t have specifics, she says, “We hope to have a new docketing process ready by mid-2017 that responds to the needs of both the community and developers as well as prioritizing what city staff are working on.”

Key says further amendments to the plan have been delayed until 2018, in order to allow for time to complete the mandatory update. 

Key says the department’s other main focus this past year was finding ways to increase in-fill projects in targeted areas. In-fill is the process of developing vacant or underused parcels within urban areas that are largely developed. 

“In-fill was a big priority,” she says. “In order to promote more in-fill projects, we needed to be able to provide information as to available lands, infrastructure, and other desirable characteristics.” 

To gather input, Key says the department created a steering committee last January to try to get insight into in-fill opportunities. The committee developed focus groups and sent out an in-fill housing survey both last summer and fall, which was used to create a larger in-fill report. 

“The report will be used to guide the work program to take advantage of more in-fill opportunities, simplifying the process and balancing it with the needs of each community,” she says. 

To further encourage economic investment in targeted areas, the planning department also launched an economic-development incentives program in February. 

“The program is intended to incentivize certain types of development in the locations the city is focused on,” says Key. “It will help leverage development around our infrastructure investments, so that private investment follows public investment.” 

Key says as applications come in for various projects, those that would qualify for incentives due to their location or purpose are identified and encouraged to apply. 

“This program encourages higher-level development, incentivizing investments that will raise the area’s economy,” she says. “There are several categories projects can gain incentives from, like incorporating green building design, brownfield redevelopment, possible job creation, and potential future revenues the project might generate.” 

She says the department is continuing to evaluate and fine-tune the program, but hopes to expand it in coming years.

To further streamline the applications process for both public and private projects, Key says the department has begun to look at ways to streamline design review. 

 “The design review board can only process so many applications,” she says. “We’re trying to be proactive, so that when these projects come through design review, there isn’t a bottleneck point within the application’s process.”

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