Southgate residents should have received a postcard this week announcing the first of two annual extra curbside garbage pickups organized by the Southgate Neighborhood Council and Spokane’s Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS). The extra pickup is happening on Friday, May 29th.

Each year ONS allocates money to each neighborhood for neighborhood cleanup activities and this is the second year that Southgate residents have decided to do a pair of extra curbside pickups as opposed to handing out dump passes.

From the postcard, “City garbage trucks will begin collecting the waste at 7:00am and will only pick up trash at the curb (no alley pickup), single family residential waste only. Everything must be to the curb by 7:00am.”

The postcard further explains the rules…

You may put out the following items: Up to three trash cans/bags/boxes or bundles weighing no more than 85 pounds each. Acceptable items include:

• Household Trash – Broken toys, housewares, clothing
• Small Appliances – Microwave, toasters, coffee pots, etc.
• Small Furniture – Size one person can carry
• Tires – Two maximum per household

Do Not Put Out:

• Hazardous Waste – Oil, paint, batteries, pesticides, or chemicals
• Clean Green – Grass clippings, branches, tree stumps, or sod
• Large Appliances – water heaters, tubs, sinks, stoves, washers, or dryers, etc.

If you have any questions please contact Jackie Caro at the City of Spokane Office of Neighborhood Services at jcaro@spokanecity.org or 509-625-6733

Coming up this Tuesday, May 19th, the City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department will be holding a public “visioning” meeting for the Southeast Soccer Complex on Regal Street. The meeting will start at 7:00pm and be at the Conference Center at ESD101 (4202 S. Regal Street).

This is an opportunity for neighborhood residents to talk about the current uses of the park and the need to better or different amenities. Want some basketball courts, come give your input. A better play area, splash pad, picnic shelters? Community gardens, better handicap access? Better bike or pedestrian connections to the neighborhood? Everything is on the table. The more input, the better.

For some background information, you can see the city-adopted Southgate Neighborhood Parks and Open Space Plan. This document was the output from a multi-year planning process a few years ago and the resulting plans were adopted by both the Parks Department and the Spokane City Council. There are sections in there that deal with the Southeast Sports Complex, but your specific input is encouraged as well.

If you have any questions you can contact us here or contact Al Vorderbruggen at the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department at 509-363-5495.

Last year developers vested a 100+ home subdivision called Twisted Willows over in Glenrose that proposed to have all the traffic enter and exit on 42nd Avenue on the east side of Southgate. They were asked by the County to redesign their plans to have traffic exiting to Glenrose (and ideally 37th Avenue as well).

There will be a new traffic impact meeting (announcement includes new plan) at 6:15pm this Wednesday, April 15th at Fire Station 81 (6117 S. Palouse Hwy.) to discuss an updated design that will have traffic entering and exiting on both 42nd and 43rd Avenues into Southgate and potentially through Trickle Creek to Glenrose.

I encourage you to look over the proposed new subdivision layout and come to the meeting to ask questions (for example):

What is the estimated amount of traffic related to this subdivision? According to 2009 data from the US Federal Highway Administration, each of these new homes could be creating 9 new car trips a day for a total of over 1,000 new vehicle trips coming into Southgate. Unless the exits to Glenrose Rd. and 37th Ave. are actually built all of those trips will be directed into Southgate and on to Havana Street.

If there are exits to Glenrose and 37th, what are the plans to improve those roads to handle the extra traffic? Currently Glenrose and 37th are built to rural county standards with no sidewalks or bike lans. The intersection of 37th and Glenrose is controlled only by a stop sign on 37th. Additionally, there is a proposed sports complex on the SW corner of Glenrose and 37th that will add even more traffic to the area, is that being considered in traffic impacts for the area?

Will the subdivision roads include sidewalks? Current County road standards require sidewalks on both sides of the road.

Why is the block of Custer Rd. from 42nd to 43rd “To Be Vacated”?

I will post a summary of the meeting after it happens Wednesday.