“We can do 100 full ($500) rebates, and we are expecting to hit that this year. We came fairly close last year,” says Hillary Nickerson, Water Steward Specialist with the City of Spokane. Not all approved projects will cash in on the full rebate, so more than 100 people will be able to take advantage of the rebate. Nickerson encourages those interested to apply, noting, “If we do have a waitlist, we will likely get some fall applications rolling.” 

Nickerson explains the program is an economic benefit to the city as well as to residents. “As the city expands, the water department has to meet demand,” she says. “It can be very costly. But if we drop usage, it wills save us money and [help us avoid] adding new infrastructure.” 

While the rebate serves as a water conservation measure, the impacts run much deeper than cost savings: SpokaneScapes are meant to be beautiful. The program incentivizes smart design and offers a recommended list of regionally tried-and-true trees, shrubs, and other perennials. 

“One of the reasons we are requiring plants is to make Spokane more beautiful than just a bed of rock mulch,” which a few early design applications tried to deploy. Those interested in edible landscapes will be happy to know what berries and fruit trees are on the list, and raise beds can also qualify as part of a design plan. 

Although the upfront effort can be daunting, the Water Stewardship team is available to help. So are a dozen local nurseries and landscape professionals, all trained in the SpokaneScape guidelines and listed on the city’s website. Once fully installed, SpokaneScape designs are lower maintenance than traditional lawns. They are also better for our pollinators and aquifer, too.

How the SpokaneScape Program Works 

To fill out the initial application, go to the City of Spokane’s Slow the Flow page. Have your city account number and be ready with 2-4 photos of your existing lawn in the proposed project area. Upon submission, the Water Stewardship team will send you an email to confirm funding. The full online design application is due two weeks after receiving the confirmation email, although people are encouraged to reach out if the timeline isn’t attainable.  

The city will review the design and then contact applicants to schedule a mandatory pre-inspection. Pre-inspections last 45 minutes and are required before beginning any conversion work. At the pre-inspection, staff will also verify measurements, take additional photos, offer advice, and answer any questions. Following your successful pre-inspection, which will take roughly a week to schedule, you will be authorized to proceed with your SpokaneScape installation. 

Participants are given 90 days to complete their installations, although extensions are available for those who qualify. This timeline ensures that all the designated money is distributed, so if someone applies and has to abandon their project, the funds can be released to someone else. When your landscaping work is 100% complete, submit a final inspection request. Another staff member will come out to inspect your work and approve your rebate for your City of Spokane utility bill. 

Summer Hess is the managing editor of Out There. She’s looking forward to re-designing her own lawn this spring.  

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What do you think it should look like?

The City of Spokane wants to know what design citizens prefer for the proposed University District Pedestrian/Bike Bridge. Citizens can view three-dimensional images of the two proposed bridge options on the project blog at udbridgestudy.blogspot.com and then submit comments via the project survey at www.surveymonkey.com. Survey responses are due by May 2.

The key objectives of the proposed bridge are:
• To develop a non-motorized connection from the Sprague area of the University District and medical district south of the rail corridor to the Riverpoint Campus, Gonzaga University, and the north neighborhoods. This will provide a safe, convenient, and enjoyable way for users to connect to other trails and bikeways for recreation and commuting.
• To stimulate economic development in the Sprague area.
• To create a skyline signature icon and sense of place. This is a unique location with a great opportunity to create something special.

The public input will be used to determine the recommended bridge for this location. The need for a pedestrian and bike bridge was identified and confirmed in numerous studies over the years. Based on comments from an earlier study, the project team and advisory committee narrowed the range of options for the bridge to two options with a single set of landings.

The bridge is one of a number of projects planned, under way or being studied in this area. Other work includes the East Sprague Redevelopment Study, the Division Gateway Corridor, the Martin Luther King Jr. Way construction project, and STA-led work on mobility within the central city. This work is part of an overall vision for the area. The City will prioritize identified projects and seek funding to continue to move this area forward

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Yesterday we blogged that the Center for Justice (CFJ) has given the City of Spokane the requisite 60-day notice of intent to sue for violating the Clean Water Act. Today’s Spokesman-Review coverage on the issue was ambiguous on whether or not a lawsuit would actually be filed, so we called CFJ attorney Rick Eichstaedt for clarification on the Center for Justice’s game plan. Eichstaedt could not pinpoint exactly what changes CFJ would require of the City to avoid a lawsuit — largely because the source of the contamination is still unknown — but he says the 60-day notice was necessary to motivate long-overdue action by the City.

OTM: When you posted the Spokesman story to your Facebook profile, you included the statement “Headlines can be deceiving…. We are hoping we don’t have to sue, but we want the City to address the problem.” What was the misunderstanding?
Eichstaedt: I think the Spokesman [was saying] we’re going to sue.

And you’re not?
We gave notice that it’s a potential. We gave them notice that we could sue after 60 days.

What’s the alternative?
We’d really like to talk to them to try to resolve it. That provides them an opportunity to fix the problem.

The CFJ report on the issue says the City of Spokane is the greatest contributor to the PCB problem. What’s the source of the PBCs?
The PCBs are coming from their storm-water system. We don’t know where [exactly they are] coming from, and that’s part of the problem. Old industrial sites, current industrial sites… A typical place where it is, is old transformer storage sites.

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The Center for Justice, a Spokane non-profit community law firm, announced today that it intends to sue the City of Spokane for violating the Clean Water Act — Spokane has high levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in its river, posing a health risk to area residents. In 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified the City of Spokane as the largest source of contamination.

“Despite the city’s multi-million dollar capital projects to address sewage treatment problems, it has not reduced PCB discharges and has done little to prevent the transport of PCB contaminated sediment to the Spokane River,” said the Center for Justice’s Riverkeeper, Rick Eichstaedt.

Read the Center for Justice’s report here.

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Recycling is green, sure. But what about all the cost — environmental and monetary — of transporting and processing the bottles we toss in the blue bin?

The City of Spokane is trying a new way of recycling glass bottles locally: it’s making roads with them. Read the Spokesman-Review story to find out more.

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