Dan Knechtel - North Indian Trail Neighborhood Council
Feb 11, 2026
Neighborhood Groups
[PDF page 1 of 2]
Tirrell Black,
Please see the attached letter with comments on the Draft EIS from the North Indian Trail Neighborhood Council that was put together using comments from our neighborhood's residents and approved to be sent by the residents attending the city neighborhood meetings. Please let me know if there are any questions or additional information I should pass on at our next neighborhood meeting.
Thank you,
Dan Knechtel
North Indian Trail
Spokane Community Assembly Representative
[PDF page 2 of 2 begins within the following paragraph.]
To City Of Spokane/PlanSpokane 2046 EIS staff:
After presenting to our neighborhood the 2046 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, with the proposed growth plan alternatives, the North Indian Trail Neighborhood council received feedback with the following significant concerns/comments:
1) Both alternative growth plans propose the North Indian Trail Neighborhood to become a high-density growth hub or corridor. However, the infrastructure is already strained and cannot support additional high-density growth.
The main road, North Indian Trail, is constrained on width growth due to geologic and geographic location, the old city dump on the west side and lined with homes that have direct driveways on the road. There is limited access to and from the neighborhood making it an evacuation hazard in a high wildfire risk area.
There are still burn scars just north of our neighborhood along the little Spokane river from previous wildfires. The street Francis leading to North Indian Trail Road is a state highway and already has congestion and safety issues that cannot be easily addressed by the city jurisdiction of Spokane. There is no middle school, nor high school in our neighborhood that would be able to support high density growth.
2) There is no joint growth plan for North Indian Trail Neighborhood between the City of Spokane and Spokane County. The neighborhood is a peninsula within City limits surrounded by Spokane County. There has already been rapid development on Spokane County land just outside the city limits along our boundaries that has significantly impacted our neighborhood with city water rights, washouts onto city property/electrical lines, fire station usage, road congestion and deterioration due to lack of county access to the properties and residents being in the Mead School district. Before any increased development occurs, there needs to be a joint development plan between Spokane County and the City of Spokane for this Northwest area.
3) North Indian Trail is not a significant employment center, most of the population commutes to other locations downtown or beyond. It is mostly a suburban single family home residential area with geographic constraints that are not conducive to development as a significant employment center or hub for large businesses in the future.
We encourage efforts to keep the area low density and low growth, high density growth should be focused along Division and US 395 areas. We recommend the City and County work together to develop a joint comprehensive plan/shared agreement prior to any further development for City land in the North Indian Trail neighborhood and County land Eastward in 5-Mile Prairie, North to the Little Spokane River and Northwest to the Spokane River.
Dan Knechtel - North Indian Trail Neighborhood Council
Feb 11, 2026
Neighborhood Groups
[PDF page 1 of 2]
Tirrell Black,
Please see the attached letter with comments on the Draft EIS from the North Indian Trail Neighborhood Council that was put together using comments from our neighborhood's residents and approved to be sent by the residents attending the city neighborhood meetings. Please let me know if there are any questions or additional information I should pass on at our next neighborhood meeting.
Thank you,
Dan Knechtel
North Indian Trail
Spokane Community Assembly Representative
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ATTACHMENT / ADDITIONAL PAGES
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[PDF page 2 of 2 begins within the following paragraph.]
To City Of Spokane/PlanSpokane 2046 EIS staff:
After presenting to our neighborhood the 2046 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, with the proposed growth plan alternatives, the North Indian Trail Neighborhood council received feedback with the following significant concerns/comments:
1) Both alternative growth plans propose the North Indian Trail Neighborhood to become a high-density growth hub or corridor. However, the infrastructure is already strained and cannot support additional high-density growth.
The main road, North Indian Trail, is constrained on width growth due to geologic and geographic location, the old city dump on the west side and lined with homes that have direct driveways on the road. There is limited access to and from the neighborhood making it an evacuation hazard in a high wildfire risk area.
There are still burn scars just north of our neighborhood along the little Spokane river from previous wildfires. The street Francis leading to North Indian Trail Road is a state highway and already has congestion and safety issues that cannot be easily addressed by the city jurisdiction of Spokane. There is no middle school, nor high school in our neighborhood that would be able to support high density growth.
2) There is no joint growth plan for North Indian Trail Neighborhood between the City of Spokane and Spokane County. The neighborhood is a peninsula within City limits surrounded by Spokane County. There has already been rapid development on Spokane County land just outside the city limits along our boundaries that has significantly impacted our neighborhood with city water rights, washouts onto city property/electrical lines, fire station usage, road congestion and deterioration due to lack of county access to the properties and residents being in the Mead School district. Before any increased development occurs, there needs to be a joint development plan between Spokane County and the City of Spokane for this Northwest area.
3) North Indian Trail is not a significant employment center, most of the population commutes to other locations downtown or beyond. It is mostly a suburban single family home residential area with geographic constraints that are not conducive to development as a significant employment center or hub for large businesses in the future.
We encourage efforts to keep the area low density and low growth, high density growth should be focused along Division and US 395 areas. We recommend the City and County work together to develop a joint comprehensive plan/shared agreement prior to any further development for City land in the North Indian Trail neighborhood and County land Eastward in 5-Mile Prairie, North to the Little Spokane River and Northwest to the Spokane River.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
The North Indian Trail Neighborhood