Resolution of the Cliff-Cannon Neighborhood Council to the Mayor, City Council and the Citizens’ Streets Advisory Commission

Whereas, the City of Spokane has adopted a Comprehensive Plan costing eight million dollars and thousands of citizen hours and,

Whereas, Policy TR 2.7, “Safe Sidewalks,” states that “the city should provide for safe pedestrian circulation within the city; in most cases, this should be in the form of sidewalks with a separated curb and sidewalk.“ and

Whereas,  Policy TR 2.7  further states “The planning level of this plan focuses on sidewalks along arterials” and

Whereas, Policy TR 9.3 “Dedicated Funds for Retrofitting” states: “The City of Spokane shall dedicate some amount of its annual transportation capital budget to retrofitting the street system to meet the city’s pedestrian design standards” and

Whereas, the The City of Spokane Street Tree ordinance states, "The city council and park board recognize that the design of the urban environment must ultimately be for the benefit of the quality of life of the human inhabitants, and that a healthy urban forest is a key component of the quality of life." A focus of the urban forestry program is to advocate for the establishment and retention of adequate planting spaces while considering the community desire for  urban aesthetics. Large trees with overhanging canopies of branches are especially desirable. Streets with a cathedral of trees overhead provide many benefits; they provide a traffic calming effect, extend the life of roads, provide a separation between streets and sidewalks, reduce pollution, noise, erosion and wind and cool our community. Pedestrian buffer strips, or planting strips, vary greatly in size. Street trees with large canopies require space to grow in order to provide full, long-term benefits to the community. The Olmsted Brothers in the report to the Board of Park Commissioners in 1909 state, "In Spokane some progress has already been made in the matter of reducing the width of roadways and increasing the width of parking strips in existing streets, but much that is desirable remains to be accomplished”.- The statement is more applicable now than ever. Wide planting strips are important, if we want large street trees to reach maturity without damaging sidewalks, curbs and streets. Street system design should provide sufficient space to accommodate large trees."

Be it therefore resolved that the Cliff/Cannon Neighborhood Council recommends that the Mayor and/or City Council require that the design for the Bernard Street project and all other 2004 Street Bond projects be approved by the Design Review Committee (DRC), the Plan Commission and the City Planning Department to insure that all street projects are performed in full compliance with the City's Comprehensive Plan. Should it be determined that a postponement in any 2004 Street Bond project is necessary to see that this approval process is followed, we will accept that delay.


Primer on this issue
Statement in support of Resolution