P.01

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.

P.02

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.

P.03

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.

P.05

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.

P.06

Plan for compact, pedestrian-oriented development patterns in neighborhoods and commercial areas.

Strategy:

• Develop and maintain design standards for pedestrian-oriented environment.

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

• Promote the integration of pedestrian-friendly designs into subdivisions, incorporating features such as landscape boulevards, buffers, street art, “pocket” parks, traffic control measures, and pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure, such as benches and bike racks.

• Require private developments to conduct bicycle and pedestrian analyses, along with traffic impact analyses, as determined by the City engineer during scope sessions.

• 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.)

Action:

• Develop new pedestrian-oriented design standards that will support missing middle housing development and human-scaled neighborhood design with an emphasis on ground-related housing.

• Initiate discussions with SR 2 commercial owners regarding signs and design standards (including street trees) and the need for public intervention in the rejuvenation of SR 2.

• Develop design guidelines for commercial development on SR 2 which is pedestrian friendly, encourages a grouping of like activities, and is architecturally consistent.

P.07

Require, when possible, traditional residential development patterns, typically featuring:

• Housing that faces the street edge.

• Utilization of alleys for parking and service access.

• An interconnected grid or small-block street network of 300~350-foot-long blocks.

• Extension of the arterial and grid street network applied to all development.

• Cul-de-sac and curvilinear street patterns should be limited.

• Street sections designed for safety, traffic calming, and aesthetic appeal, including narrower lanes, sidewalks, bike facilities, landscaping, and lighting.

Strategy:

• Review the development code and best practices to identify updates to the development standards to reinforce traditional residential development patterns.

Action:

• Update development standards in the zoning code to implement traditional residential development patterns.

• Update the public works standards to require connections by development to the existing street network and extend the grid street network into undeveloped and urban growth areas.

P.08

Encourage compatible infill development and redevelopment of vacant and under-utilized properties within City limits, ensuring compatibility with FAFB and airport overlay areas.

Strategy:

• Review the development code and best practices to identify infill development standards including lot sizes, access to the roadway and utilities, and design standards for housing for missing middle and high-density housing consistent with the Downtown Plan.

Action:

• Update development standards in the zoning code to implement small-lot development standards and redevelopment in high-density areas consistent with the Downtown Plan.

• Develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) inventory and a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) or Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) strategy to address the infill of missing sidewalks along undeveloped sites, ensuring enhanced pedestrian and bicycle mobility and safety.

P.09

Prioritize location of schools in areas with:

• Access to arterial and collector streets.

• Ample sidewalks, bike, and pedestrian access.

• Proximity to residential areas being served.

• Cost-effective access to necessary utilities and services.

• Locations with multiple street access.

P.10

Prioritize location of new industrial development in areas that provide:

• Close proximity to major transportation corridors including in the industrial sub-area and along 21st Avenue.

• Siting near existing industrial uses, where possible.

• Cost-effective access to utilities and services.

• Access to transit to reduce employee vehicle trips.

• Paved roadway access to arterials.

• Ability to minimize trucking through residential areas.

P.12

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.

P.18

Consider location of multi-family development in areas that:

• Can be integrated into existing neighborhood development patterns, ensuring compatibility in building scale and neighborhood character, replicating neighborhood design elements, and supporting a pedestrian-friendly environment. Examples include: limiting number of units in buildings limiting the building height to 1-2 stories requiring buildings to be along street frontages, creating a clear entrance and space related to the street requiring differing building forms built on a neighborhood block scale such as mixes of duplex, triplex, fourplex, courtyard apartments, townhomes and cluster housing.

• Can be designed to minimize large surface parking lots and promote shared parking, requiring parking on the interior of the site, behind buildings.

• Provide a transition between higher- and lower-intensity development patterns.

• Are appropriate and compatible with existing land uses.

• Are part of projects involving mixed-use or master-planned areas.

• Have convenient access to STA transit via use of pedestrian and/or bike accommodations (i.e. sidewalk, pathways, bike lanes, etc.)

• Have access to a collector or arterial.

• Do not concentrate multifamily developments in an area of the city, but rather distributes them throughout the community to avoid concentrations.

P.19

Maintain safe and efficient, multi-modal traffic flows throughout Airway Heights, measured and monitored using adopted Level of Service (LOS) standards.

Strategy:

• Maintain a multi-modal level of service for the City that may differentiate between neighborhoods such as Downtown and residential neighborhoods.

• Encourage complete streets design for roadways and provide design guidelines on street elements configuration.

• Encourage extension of the multiuse path system.

• Provide administrative and financial assistance to support development-borne costs for roadway improvements adjacent to site.

• Encourage street lighting.

• Encourage frontage and landscaping improvements to the roadway edge including for US-2.

• Encourage extension of grid system and connection roadway network in the City and into the UGA.

• Develop safe crossings, multi-modal options, and improve US-2 to slow traffic through downtown.

Action:

• 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.)

• Leverage and develop the development traffic impact analyses to address multimodal Level of Service (LOS), at the discretion of the City engineer.

• Develop a new multi-modal level of service standard for the City, Downtown, and other neighborhoods as appropriate.

P.20

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.

P.21

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.

P.22

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.)

P.23

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.)

P.24

Coordinate transportation planning and provision efforts with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC), Spokane County, the City of Spokane, and other nearby cities.

P.25

Participate and coordinate Airway Heights objectives with inter-jurisdictional and regional planning for commercial air travel and air freight services.

P.26

Coordinate all long-range community planning objectives with Fairchild Air Force Base (FAFB), minimizing or eliminating operational or land use conflicts.

P.27

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

P.28

On a regular basis, review and update the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and all related plans incorporating factors including:

• Population growth.

• Demographic trends.

• Building permit trends.

• Regional facility improvements and projections.

• Capital funding sources, including the transportation benefit district and traffic impact fees.

P.29

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.

P.30

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.)

P.34

Sustain and enhance the City’s fiscal stability through good capital planning and use of a wide array of financial tools to fund infrastructure needs.

P.35

Work towards compliance with accessibility requirements in accordance with Americans with Disability Act (ADA).

P.36

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.

P.38

Require private development to pay traffic impact fees proportionately to support infrastructure construction as a function of the concurrency and/or SEPA approval processes.

P.40

With Spokane County, base determination of Urban Growth Area (UGA) limits considering:

• Land use forecast and demands.

• Future service capabilities.

• Infrastructure planning.

• Ground and surface water provision and quality.

• Protection of public health.

• Transportation impacts.

P.53

Develop a robust multimodal network that supports land use development, increasing the number of residents who work, live, and recreate in Airway Heights. This will stimulate local commerce and promote outside investment within the City.

P.54

Invest in a multimodal transportation network to promote the efficient movement of freight and commuters between residential and commercial centers. Residents and workers that can effectively access services and goods are more likely to invest in Airway Heights, elevating business incomes and promoting the tax base.

P.55

The provision of multimodal choices allows Airway Heights citizens to benefit from reduced travel costs and healthier lifestyles via walking, biking, and/or ridership of STA transit. Promotion of mixed-use developments with affordable housing and employment opportunity, in combination with multimodal facilities, allows citizens the opportunity to reduce their transportation footprint on City and regional roadways and highways, which reduces infrastructure costs/impacts and improves air and stormwater runoff qualities.

P.56

Require the development or Develop Standards for context-sensitive streets to provide “place” for pedestrian, bicycle, and transit accommodation, incorporating (as appropriate) landscape, artistic, and traffic calming enhancements to affect the community vision for the City. Improvements such as boulevards and landscape buffers, street/pathway art, “pocket” parks, speed control measures, and pedestrian/bike infrastructure (benches, bike racks, etc.) are examples of applications that appeal to commuters and recreational travelers.

P.57

Anchor the city center with walkable/bicycle facilities, incorporating traffic controls, calming measures, strategically located parking, and wayfinding to slow or divert traffic from the vibrant city center. This approach creates a sense of place for active transportation.

P.58

Implement downtown zoning with a focus on businesses that promote synergy with nearby residential accessibility, transit, and active commuting. This action aims to reduce the frequency of single-purpose trips to the downtown area.

P.59

Promote the development of appealing transportation facilities that complement the   downtown/civic center by implementing development standards that incorporate   context-sensitive designs and landscaping elements.

P.60

Develop a comprehensive multimodal transportation network that supports the development of commercial and residential land use, promotes the Airway Heights economy by facilitating the efficient movement of freight and goods, and provides transportation options to reduce travel demand, congestion, and reliance on single occupancy vehicles, and encourages healthier lifestyles.

P.61

Promote mixed commercial, service, and residential land use developments, incorporating transit and active transportation facilities to ease congestion, reduce single-occupancy vehicle use, and encourage healthier lifestyles.

P.62

Encourage mixed use development in commercial areas with the DNL 65-69 designation, as indicated on the land use map. Promote mixed-use projects in these areas to incorporate multimodal facilities within the development, including trails, bike lanes or paths, and transit facilities, and ensure their integration with existing or planned multimodal projects.

• Encourage travel between the residential, work, and recreational land uses of site.

• Provide the local streets and access easements needed to promote travel off City arterials and collectors.

• Provides active transportation options (walking and biking) between land uses.

• 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.

P.63

Maintain a system of federally functional classified roadways to safely and efficiently accommodate projected travel demands for Airway Heights.

Strategy:

• Develop multimodal design standards for respective roadway classes, as defined with Transportation Section 1 of City Design Standards.

• Assure access management criteria per Section 2E of the Transportation section of City Design Standards is applied to assure the performance and safety of roadways.

• The Concurrency Standard of Municipal Code 14.09 is established to affirm classified roadways have the capacity to address forecast travel demands.

• Work to assure the 6-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is advanced at a pace commensurate with the gain in travel demands.

• Assure the traffic impact fee program is developed to support the funding of TIP projects.

• Coordinate with WSDOT and adjacent local agencies to coordinate classifications for shared roadways, and to affirm consistency in design.

P.64

Design or encourage development to provide multimodal application in private construction.

Strategy:

• Work with Spokane Transit to identify opportunities for fixed route stops or vanpool.

• Establish active transportation options (walking and biking) along corridors designated by mater pedestrian and bicycle plans.

• Establish context-sensitive designs that fit the character of neighborhoods.

• When appropriate, utilize traffic calming measures (bulb-outs, islands, etc.) to slow traffic on multimodal corridors.

• Update and Maintain a Complete Street plan per City of Airway Heights Municipal Code 14.10.

• Develop context sensitive designs that promote the appeal of 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.

P.65

Encourage development to organize Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies.

Strategy:

• Work with developers to establish mixed-use developments advanced with complete street networks.

• Encourage City businesses with 100 or more full-time employees to provide flextime or telecommuting schedule options.

• Provide ride-share options through organizations such as Spokane Transit or Commute Finder Northwest.

• Develop other TDM strategies in compliance with best practices.

• Document a commute trip reduction plan per City of Airway Heights Municipal Code Chapter 10.16.

• Use transportation technology (intelligent transportation systems, variable messaging, etc.) and wayfinding to help maintain the movements of traffic through the City.

• TDM and CTR strategies can result in reduced development trip generation, which could result in a reduction of traffic impact fees, as approved by the City Public Works director.

P.66

Work to develop bicycle facilities with City collectors and private development projects.

Strategy:

• Implement the network of paths and dedicated lanes for bicycle activity as identified in the City Comprehensive Plan.

• Develop multiuse paths, bike paths, or bike lanes along City collectors in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Comprehensive Plan.

• Require private development projects to conduct bicycle and pedestrian analyses and discussion in the traffic impact analyses, as determined by the discretion of the City engineer during scope sessions.

• Require private development to incorporate multiuse paths, bike paths, or bike lanes as part of the frontage improvement in a manner consistent with the bicycle master plan.

• Collaborate with private development to proactively plan for and preserve the right-of-way (ROW) needed for bicycle facilities.

P.67

Employ access management practices throughout the City to help preserve mobility and safety for area roadways.

Strategy:

• Incorporate the spacing guidelines outlined in Section 2E of the Transportation section in the City Design Standards to optimize the spacing of classified roadways within the network that supports mobility.

• Implement the minimum private development approach spacings defined in Section 2E of the Transportation section of City Design Standards to minimize the impact on traffic flow.

• Enforce the requirement for residential developments with more than 30 units/dwellings to provide secondary access through a separate street to meet mobility needs and ensure emergency service accessibility.

• Require adjacent commercial developments to establish connecting cross-easements between sites to provide for mobility off the city street system, particularly along U.S. 2.

• Promote shared access, as possible, to minimize the number of access points along City collectors and arterials.

P.68

Ensure that all City roads are designated as public, unless otherwise specified or approved by the City engineer or as specified in the City Municipal Code.

Strategy:

• An applicant petition for a private road is subject to approval by the City Engineer.

• The maintenance/upkeep of private roads will be the responsibility of the property owner.

• The minimum cross-section of a private road will be a 20-foot paved surface unless approved otherwise by the City engineer.

• A private street serving multi-family, mobile home parks, or commercial uses shall provide a 5-foot sidewalk on one side designed to prevent parking on the sidewalk.

• A private road will be limited to a volume of 300 average daily traffic or 30 trips per hour.

• Further definitions and guidelines for City streets are discussed with Section 2E of the Transportation section of City Design Standards.

P.73

Develop safe crossings, multi-modal options, and improve US 2 to slow down traffic through Downtown.

Strategy:

• Collaborate with WSDOT on US-2 design to ensure slower traffic and multi-modal opportunities in the downtown core. Use a boulevard concept to ensure slower speeds, safe crossings, and beautification/shade trees.

• Establish connectivity and walkability north and south of US-2 so residents and visitors can safely explore both sides of downtown.

• Utilize greenspace, bollards, and safe crossing elements to separate motorized traffic from sidewalks, open spaces, and trails.

• Take immediate action to increase pedestrian safety. New crosswalks with signage, pavement tape, flex delineators, and planters are examples of quick and inexpensive changes that could drastically improve safety.