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 Spring 2006 Update     MAY 2007     Fall 2006 Update

Are you motivated enough to read the Spokane County Dept. of Building & Planning Comprehensive Plan? We now have the link to this website here.

Dear Neighbors,

 It’s been quite a long while since we’ve sent out an update and we apologize for the delay.   Now that we both have year-end behind us, we will be able to get back into our normal mode of operation.

As we explained in the January Community Meeting, the studies and new information from the applicant has slowed down.  During this slow time, our legal and expert team is finalizing the collected data and preparing the documents for presentation at the hearing, whenever it occurs.

The applicant, Mr. David Rajewski, submitted a Wetland Delineation Report in November, as required by the County, but has not submitted any additional studies at this time.  Our Biologist reviewed the Delineation Report and does not believe it meets the standards for all the wetlands on the project site.  Several of the wetlands shown on the County Wetland Inventory Map for this property have been omitted from the study.  Our Biologist has submitted documentation the Department of Ecology outlining the deficiencies in the Delineation Report.  The DOE has asked for a site visit and is awaiting a response from the applicant.

 The traffic study has not been completed and appears to be stalled at this time.  The applicants Traffic Engineer, Ann Winkler, and his agent, Greg Blessing, met with the State Department of Transportation and County Engineering Department in November to discuss the scope of the traffic study.  The community concerns voiced at the public meeting were used and they were to determine the extent of the study.  We received a summary of the meeting and sent a letter in December to the engineer and both state and county agencies seeking clarification on several issues important to the community.  We have not received a response at this time.  The Traffic Engineer resigned at the completion of the scoping process and we have not heard that another engineer has come on-board.

The lawsuit filed by the neighbors down at Stutler Road is still in litigation.  This suit is very important to them, and also very important to the Alliance.  Should they win, 400 – 1500 trucks a day will not have access to SR195 through use of any current easements or accesses granted to the property. 

As many of you may have noticed, we are coming upon the 1-year date for the Technical Review Meeting, which is when the “clock” began to tick for the required studies.  A 180 day extension was granted in August and it appears that another 180 day extension has just been granted as a result of the past months activity. 

 During the next couple of months, we are going to take an aggressive approach to getting some the regulatory issues addressed that seem to have been pushed aside for the past year.  We hope to have a more detailed update on this that we can share publicly in the next month or so. 

 We will also use this time to plan and conduct fundraisers.  If you have any suggestions for fundraisers, or have experience in organizing them, please contact Ginny Hein.

As the slow time continues, we will use a monthly newsletter to update everyone on our progress so please watch for these in your mail.  We will conduct a community meeting once new information becomes available.  We will notify everyone via email and mail when the next meeting is scheduled.

 Please understand that while this process has slowed down, we MUST remain steadfast in stopping the zone change and not be “lulled off” with the lack of activity.  This is a strategy that can be very effective in these types of projects with a large amount of community support.  Although it may seem that nothing is going on, please be assured that the Alliance is not slowing down and we are diligently working on things daily. 

 We appreciate all the past support each one of you have given in the past year and would like to ask for another year of the same level.  Stopping this zone change is critical to the community.  As you have seen in the recent newspaper articles regarding the aquifer at Rathdrum, once the water is contaminated, it’s everyone’s problem.   We can’t allow this to happen to us.

 Keep in touch and thank you again for your continued support.

 Joe and Helen

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