Spokane, WA

Spokane, WA offers free AI permit prescreening for wildfire rebuilds

The City of Spokane is working with Permittable AI to help residents rebuilding after the Spokane Complex wildfires. Residential permit applicants can use Permittable AI's Intake Completeness service free for one year, uploading their permit package to get a report on missing documents, plan sheets and other completeness issues before they submit it. Use is optional, and city staff still conduct the official review.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States

Spokane, WA seeks affordable housing solutions with Building Opportunity and Choices for All pilot

The Spokane City Council approved an interim zoning ordinance encouraging small-scale housing developments. This ordinance eliminates Floor Area Ratio, increases building heights, and decreases required lot sizes to accommodate attached homes and duplexes. The Planning Services team will conduct online and in-person feedback sessions with residents as they track the program's impacts. City officials hope for an increase in entry-level housing options within the one-year pilot period.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States

Spokane, WA is charging public events reimbursement fees to offset public safety overtime costs

Spokane City Council approved an ordinance to change the reimbursement policy for public safety services performed at large public events. Starting in 2023, the city will start collecting reimbursement to offset the cost of overtime paid to Spokane police officers. According to the ordinance, parades will be charged with 25% of public safety personnel costs and all other events will be charged 75%.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States

Spokane, WA is creating a Mental Health Response Unit for emergencies that do not require police

The Spokane Police Department is working with Frontier Behavioral Health officials to deploy mental health professionals to certain 911 calls without being accompanied by a police officer. The Mental Health Response Unit prevents escalation from the presence of an armed office and enables the police to respond to other emergencies.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States

Spokane, WA is piloting natural turf treatments at local parks to reduce the use of pesticides

The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department is piloting natural and organic turf treatments at Chief Garry Park. Park employees will regularly monitor the health of the soil and determine if the turf is resilient and supportive of microbial life. If successful, the city plans to spread natural turf management to other parks and public properties in order to reduce reliance on synthetic herbicides and pesticides.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States

Spokane, WA Parks and Recreation Department is sponsoring Riverfront Moves summer fitness program

The City of Spokane's Parks and Recreation Department partnered with Providence Health Care to sponsor the "Riverfront Moves" program. The Riverfront Moves program offers free fitness classes at the local park over the summer including yoga, spin, and Pilates classes. The classes will comply with social distancing requirements and other COVID-19 protocols. The park will partner with various local businesses to provide a variety of these free classes to the community.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States

Spokane, WA partnered with Gallup to uncover public priorities for future projects

The city partnered with Gallup to uncover public priorities that smart city projects can and should address. Together they developed a system of citizen predictive analytics based on the integration of data sources available on Urbanova’s open data and analytics platform.

SW

Spokane, WA

United States