Bloglander

Spokane’s love affair with parking lots got a bit more heated Monday night when the City Council voted to allow schools to build larger parking lots without a chance for input from the public.

Councilman Jon Snyder, who was on the losing end of the 4-3 vote, called the new rules a “stunning setback for neighborhoods” in his weekly blog.

His main complaint was aimed at Councilman Steve Corker.

“When it came time to vote, Councilmember Corker — who was the swing vote on this issue — voiced concerns that allowing public comment would add as much as thirty days to the process of building a new school and voted against neighborhood comment,” he writes. “Further eroding this public process is not a step in the right direction.”

The issue of neighborhood involvement in city decisions could resurface for Corker, who is running to become the council’s next president.

“Last night’s city council vote on the school parking lots was wrong,” wrote Ben Stuckart, Corker’s only opponent in the race so far, on his campaign’s Facebook wall. The council “just said that the same rules should apply to every neighborhood, regardless of neighborhood opinion and testimony.”