Support land use patterns that:

• Maintain or enhance community levels of service.

• Foster the long-term fiscal health of the community.

• Maintain and enhance resident quality of life.

• Promote compatible, well-designed development.

• Implement goals and policies of the comprehensive plan, related master plan and/or facility plans.

• Are compatible with FAFB and airport overlay areas.

• Support a walkable and bikeable City.

• Provide a range of housing types and options.

• Support living wage employment opportunities for its residents.

• Encourage travel demand reduction through use of mixed-use residential, commercial, and institutional development.

• Advance multimodal facilities to reduce reliance on single-occupancy vehicles.

• Promote connectivity between developments.

Apply or revise zoning designations with careful consideration of factors including:

• Future land use mapping.

• Compatibility with surrounding land uses.

• Restrictions in FAFB and airport overlay areas.

• Infrastructure and service plans.

• Existing and future traffic patterns are supported through a street network classified by function that enforces multimodal design standards on the City and private development.

• Goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan, related Master Plan, and/or Facility Plans.

• Housing needs and affordability for all income ranges.

• Economic development and implementation of the Downtown Plan.

• Implementation of the Industrial Sub-Area Plan.

Maintain concurrency between the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Element and available funding, ensuring efficient and timely levels of service (LOS) provision.

To maintain mobility that allows for existing vehicle movements while balancing the need to support traffic growth within a developing community, the City will maintain a concurrency/LOS mobility standard consistent with those proscribed by Airway Heights Traffic Impact Study Standard Guidelines, and required through Airway Height Municipal Code 14.09 for Transportation Concurrency.

Encourage development patterns that provide suitably-scaled, daily needs services within ¼ mile of residential areas, allowing a measure of independence for those who cannot or choose not to drive.

Strategy:

• Identify small-scale neighborhood commercial sites that are suitable to service existing and planned residential development. These should be located along transit corridors.

• Ensure access to STA transit access is within ¼-mile of multifamily and large-scale single-family residential centers.

• Ensure access to parks within the 10 minute or ¼ mile of residential areas.

• Promote connectivity between developments.

Action:

• Rezone areas suitable for neighborhood commercial development following public outreach engagement.

• Assess, plan, and implement multi-modal transportation needs for neighborhood commercial areas.

• Promote the development of park spaces, including pocket parks, trails, multi-use paths, and more.

With Spokane County and service providers, coordinate development patterns and the transportation network in Airway Heights’ Urban Growth Area (UGA), helping prevent adverse consequences for future incorporation.

Strategy:

• Prohibit UGA (Urban Growth Area) boundary adjustments that impose excessive burdens on Airway Heights citizens for extending utilities or transportation infrastructure.

• Require adjacent agencies or private developments to conduct infrastructure needs assessments for land development projects seeking incorporation into the Airway Heights UGA, ensuring the identification and acceptance by City officials of adequate utility or transportation mitigations before incorporating new development.

Develop and enhance a transportation system in Airway Heights that:

• Facilitates the safe, efficient movement of people, goods, and services.

• Supports non-motorized and recreational needs.

• Supports land use objectives.

• Promotes livable neighborhoods.

• Increases access to and encourages the use of public transit.

• Improves safe pedestrian and bike routes to schools, housing, employment areas, and between communities.

• Encourages completion of the street grid and improved alley access for development of low density, medium density, and infill housing.

• Provides a residential grid network that ensures multimodal mobility between developments, recreation, services, and schools along City collectors and arterials.

• Implements sound access management techniques by providing connectivity between contiguous commercial developments off the street system.

Improve year-round access, safety, utility, convenience and service levels for alternative modes of transportation, including:

• Walking.

• Bicycling.

• Public transit services.

• Rideshare/carpooling.

• Use of boulevards and landscape buffers designed consistent with City Standards that provide for snow storage that keep roads, bike lanes, and sidewalk/paths accessible year-round.

• Development that promotes complete streets, improves access to STA transit, and/or provides shelters/storage for active transportation to improve multimodal LOS.

• Businesses and residential developments that encourage commute trip reduction strategies, which can also improve multimodal LOS.

Maintain and improve the continuity of sidewalks, trails, and bicycle paths in Airway Heights.

Strategy:

• Develop and maintain a Master Sidewalk and Pedestrian Network Plan that engineers and planners can use to coordinate the advancement of active transportation facilities.

• Enforce Multimodal Level of Service (LOS) goals for private development, incentivizing compliance by offering reductions in the City traffic impact fee for meeting these standards. (See Transportation Section for multimodal LOS standards/definition.)

Work to improve street and trail connectivity and quality in all areas of Airway Heights, improving walkability, public health and safety, and transportation efficiency.

Strategy:

• Develop and maintain a Master Sidewalk and Pedestrian Network Plan that engineers and planners can use to coordinate the advancement of active transportation facilities.

• Enforce Multimodal Level of Service (LOS) goals for private development, incentivizing compliance by offering reductions in the City traffic impact fee for meeting these standards. (See Transportation Section for multimodal LOS standards/definition.)

Maintain infrastructure and personnel at levels that provide Airway Heights residents   with services that are high-quality, effective, and affordable.

Support and cooperate with other agencies and providers of public services to maintain identified Levels of Service (LOS).

Strategy:

• Collaborate with adjacent jurisdictions and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to maintain performance and Level of Service (LOS) standards for intersections and roadways. Work to ensure that the LOS needs of these agencies are met for large development projects, including providing potential mitigation for transportation impacts.

Plan new development to ensure provision of public services at current Levels of Service (LOS) or the LOS identified in City-adopted Master Plans.

Strategy:

• Require development projects to demonstrate transportation concurrency by applying the City’s traffic impact analysis standards and process.

• Require development projects to meet the water concurrency requirements as set forth in the Airway Heights Municipal Code (AHMC) chapter 14.

• Enforce Multimodal Level of Service (LOS) goals for private development, incentivizing compliance by offering reductions in the City traffic impact fee for meeting these standards. (See Transportation Section for multimodal LOS standards/definition.)

Guide annexation decisions by and considering:

• Master plans for water, sewer, transportation, parks, and emergency services.

• Provision of necessary rights-of-way and easements.

• Studies that evaluate environmental and public service factors.

• Timing that supports orderly development and/or coordinated extension of public services.

• Comprehensive Plan goals and policies.

Promote landscaping guidelines that:

• Protect wildlife habitats by maintaining existing trees and vegetative cover.

• Re-vegetate disturbed areas.

• Beautify streets, roadways, and surface parking lots.

• Help treat and address stormwater issues.

Improve the overall community image by creating areas that enhance the sense of civic pride within the City by enhancing the aesthetic qualities of the City through the attractive and memorable design of park and recreation features.

Strategy:

• Identify & encourage areas appropriate for civic areas, town/neighborhood squares, & other public open spaces.

• Encourage the establishment of community civic groups dedicated to improving the community’s appearance.

• Identify areas in the community to install public art.

• Invest in streetscape improvements and beautification efforts in downtown to cultivate a stronger identity and sense of place, transforming the streets and sidewalks into the vibrant, lively spaces envisioned by the community.

Provide year-round park and recreation features, facilities, and programs, in sufficient quantity and diversity, to provide opportunities for individuals of all age groups and abilities in order to meet the present and future needs of non-driving residents.

Strategy:

• Ensure that every home in the City lies within the service area of a park by pursuing partnerships with developers, by requiring park, trail, and open space dedications with subdivisions according to specified standards, and by actively pursuing funding opportunities from the RCO, Spokane County, and Spokane Parks Foundation.

• Develop both passive and active recreation opportunities on public land including trails, mini exercise and pocket facilities (small scale such as benches and tables).

Action:

• Develop a senior and disability recreation plan for inclusive facilities, when possible, at every location.

• Pursue avenues of funding and partnerships with other government agencies, as well as private and non-profit organizations, to develop the remaining 50 acres at the Recreation Complex, including phase 2 of the Recreation Center Expansion and improving year-round recreational opportunities for the region.

Coordinate with agencies and surrounding communities to develop and broaden the variety of and accessibility to recreation, wellness, and open space opportunities available to city residents of all ages and abilities.

Strategy:

• Coordinate with the City of Spokane, Spokane County & surrounding communities to develop and enhance linkages and partnerships to maximize the recreational opportunities for all residents.

• Coordinate with Cheney School District to maximize recreational opportunities at school facilities.

Ensure park & recreation facilities within the community are of a safe & healthy nature.

Strategy:

• Designate & locate park facilities in a manner ensuring compatibility with surrounding uses, especially as new development occurs.

• Provide landscaping, serving to buffer neighboring land uses, and also provide shade and aesthetic amenity for park users.

• Ensure that park sites that are developed in residential neighborhoods are fronted on at least 50% of their perimeter by a public road to allow adequate public access to the site. Ensure visibility into park facilities is maintained from street & other public access areas.

Require an impact fee, land dedication, or fee in lieu of dedication for community and neighborhood parks based upon the adopted LOS standards set forth in the Park Element.

Amend existing development regulations to ensure consistency with the neighborhood   level of service standards for parks set forth in the Parks Element.

New Master Planned Communities should be required to dedicate land for the development of community parks that are available to the general public.

Require all new residential lots or new residential units on lots of record to pay an impact fee, dedicate land, or pay a fee in lieu of land dedication for the development of local parks. The structure of each of these options shall be correlated to the LOS standards set forth in the Parks Element.

The required dedication of land within a site to be developed as five units or greater of residential development mixed use shall be 10% of the land. The required dedication for land within a single-family residential development shall be a minimum of 5% of the land. Dedication lands may not be used for other purposes such as stormwater control, storage or another non-park uses.