SPOKANE, Wash – Kris Hanson a South Hill resident said in mid-May when she was walking her dog on South Cannon Place she saw a homeowner making what he called improvements to the area. However, the catch was it wasn’t on his property.
“It’s not his yard. It’s public property,” said Hanson.
Hanson provided NonStop Local with documents outlining the limits of the owner’s property.
” He’s encaptured quite a bit more property than is legally owned by him.”
She believed the homeowner extended his property to line his own pockets, “he’s gaining profit from making a bigger, better Airbnb yard, and yet all of us are seeing these shrinking lands because of it.”
NonStop Local measured how much the owner had extended his property by and it was around 16 feet.
Hanson told NonStop Local that the homeowners extended their property line and raised the road’s landscape by approximately four feet. She says they dumped concrete and mulch to create a sloped walkway.
We reached out to the homeowner, who asked to remain anonymous. He said he was making improvements to the area and had an agreement with the city because he took care of the bluff and had no further comment.
The City of Spokane issued a statement that said that because this is an open case they could only provide a statement which was,
“Code Enforcement is aware of the concerns about work occurring at this location, and the case is active. We are currently working with the responsible party in an effort to obtain voluntary compliance. Compliance could be having the party restore the right of way to its pre-construction condition or obtaining the appropriate permit(s) to perform improvements in the dedicated right of way.”
However, Hanson said this should have been handled weeks ago when she first reached out, “the city missed an opportunity to stop. I think the city had the chance to mitigate a lot of the issues that we see here.”
Hanson’s goal is simple: “I would like to keep these areas public rather than have them taken over by these private owners.”
