Spokane Area PFAS Filters, Shelter Funding and Land Bank Considered

Spokane County is poised to accept $170,000 from the Washington Department of Ecology for filtration systems serving West Plains well owners whose water contains forever chemicals. The contamination is tied to firefighting training at the airport, where compounds were washed into soil near tarmacs and later reached groundwater. That groundwater supplied Airway Height municipal customers and residents whose wells draw from the aquifers.

Spokane City Council Member Paul Dillon also wants to name the Greater Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium as a land bank under a state law adopted earlier this year. The designation would let the consortium obtain abandoned, vacant or tax-delinquent parcels, restore them without paying property taxes during that work, and transfer them to developers planning affordable housing. If approved in a few weeks, the authority would last five years. The consortium would report annually to the mayor and council.

Separate proposals include funding to shelter unhoused residents during severe weather. Together, the matters before local officials could affect drinking-water protection for West Plains households, temporary shelter capacity during dangerous conditions and the supply of land prepared for affordable housing. The council now uses Tuesday meetings to finalize Wednesday agendas that include matters expected over the following two weeks, giving residents additional time before votes occur.