SPOKANE, Wash. — The City of Spokane is working to make the process of rebuilding after the Spokane Area Fires a little easier with a help center set up at the Shadle Park Library.
The city has two people from the Planning and Development staff at the center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays to answer questions about the permitting process. They will be at the library for the next two weeks.
The city says there are several rules around rebuilding homes that are being waived for fire survivors. That includes a few building codes for the type of home you might be trying to rebuild.
“What can you rebuild? What are your setbacks? Are you subject to design standards? What design standards would be subject and what are being waived?” said Spokane development services director Tami Palmquist.
Even if your home was a split level before, if you want to build a rancher, the city will allow you to change that.
“A lot of the folks in that neighborhood where we suffered the damage had gas furnaces, gas fireplaces, gas water heaters and they want to build back the same because that’s what they’re insured for,” said Dennis Hawxhurst, who lost his home in the Old Trails Fire.
Hawxhurst was worried the state wouldn’t allow him to build a gas fireplace in his new home, but he says the city and county are working with the state to see if they would be allowed to follow older building codes that would allow it.
The city says it is also working to find additional state and federal grants to help fire survivors.
“I have never seen such a coming together and a coordinated effort as much as our city and our county, how they came together and actually put boots on the ground out here where people are,” Hawxhurst said.
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