Spokane City Council to vote on pausing sale of 200-acres in Latah Valley

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council will soon vote on whether or not to move forward with the sale of a large piece of land in Latah Valley.

City councilmembers are working to pass a resolution to pause the sale of 200 acres near Thorpe Road to be used for development.

The Thorpe property, also known as the ‘Westwood Area,’ is being considered by a property developer for housing developments.

Many local conservationists are against the sale and hope City Council will preserve the land’s natural habitat.

“It’s a pretty phenomenal spot in town. You can see why. You can see why they First Peoples gravitated to this area. I think a lot of that affinity still exists today,” said Kai Huschke, a Latah Valley resident.

Huschke is concerned about preserving the space, as well as the repercussions of a mass influx of people moving to the area.

“We’re in an area that’s considered to be a wildland urban-interface. So, it’s very, very prone to potential wildfire. Yet, the fire services are inadequate. Now, you want to put more people in an area that is already stressed. In reality, it’s going to put more people’s lives in danger,” he said.

Spokane City Council will vote on December 2 about the resolution to pause the sale.

If passed, the sale would be paused for 180 days.

The resolution is sponsored by councilmembers Dillon, Navarrete and Klitzke. The pause would also give different organizations and tribal communities to weigh in on the sale or transfer.

The company looking to buy the land, Blue Fern Management, said it plans to set aside half of the land for community assets like parks, libraries, fire stations and park-and-ride spots.

Blue Fern CEO, Benjamin Paulus, said if the sale gets delayed it could alter a future city-funded study slated to look at Latah valley’s growth. He said if the sale was halted, it could affect it’s accuracy because it would survey the area with considering the potentially large development.