By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
A Spokane County Superior Court judge has struck down a decision by the county hearing examiner to allow development of a private airstrip less than two miles northeast of Cheney.
Judge Jerome Leveque heard the appeal of the January decision to allow Denny Reed to build a private airstrip and housing development on his property, located between Cheney-Spokane and West Jensen roads. The property is surrounded by several rural homeowners and landowners, many of whom joined to form the Prosser Hill Neighborhood Coalition to oppose the application.
The members of the coalition pooled funds to hire a lawyer to represent them in hearings last November, where they told the hearing examiner that an airstrip built so close to their properties would damage the rural environment, create noise and danger of crashes and reduce their property values. They also challenged the process of notifying neighbors of the application, and complained that the county didn’t adequately inform them about the hearing.
Reed, a pilot and flight instructor of light and ultralight aircraft, has maintained throughout the process that private airstrips are allowed in the Rural Traditional zone where the development was planned and says he should be able to do what he wants, within county regulations, on his own property.
After county hearing examiner Michael Dempsey approved Reed’s application to build a private airstrip, the neighbors appealed. At a June hearing, Leveque pointed out the notification issue. County code states that an applicant must post a notice of hearing sign on the site along the most heavily traveled road adjacent to the site. While the site itself is not adjacent to the road but located between heavily-traveled Cheney-Spokane to the south and Jensen to the north, the sign was posted along West Jensen. Leveque said a sign along Cheney-Spokane Road would have better met the code’s intent.
Additionally, an error in the location of the site description in letters of notification was brought up. While Dempsey noted that the error didn’t seem to confuse anyone during the initial hearing, Leveque said it didn’t comply with county code.
Finally, Leveque noted that Dempsey denied the neighbor group’s request for a continuance of the hearing in November, which lasted three days. In the final order, the three points were enough to return the issue to the hearing examiner.
“Taken together, the Hearing Examiner’s error regarding the location of the sign required by SCC 13.700.106(2) b., the error regarding the contents of the written notice of hearing required by SCC 13.700.106(2) a., and the abuse of discretion in denying the continuance of the hearing are in totality not harmless error,” the order read.
Lisa McKee of the PRNC said they were pleasantly surprised to win their appeal.
“He decided in our favor, which was drastically against the odds,” she said. “To reverse a decision of a hearing examiner, we knew it was quite rare, and he did.”
McKee said the group has grown from 20 to around 75 members. She added that the group would continue to fight the development if Reed would go back to the hearing examiner with a revised land use application. “Whatever happens, if they start over, we’ll have lots more time to investigate a lot of the things,” he said.
Reed said that he would continue to pursue the private airstrip permit.
He added that there are many allowable uses within the Rural Traditional zone that would be more obnoxious to neighbors than a small private airstrip. He pointed out that one of the allowable uses was a commercial pig farm.
“If I can’t do an airstrip, I’m going to build the largest pig farm in Spokane County,” he said. “I wouldn’t be saying that if I wasn’t serious.”
The applicant has 30 days from the signing of the final order to request a new hearing.
Becky Thomas can be reached at becky@cheneyfreepress.com.
