OK, just to be clear: Two Spokane County planning officials pleaded the Fifth Amendment you know, the one where you cant be compelled to give criminal evidence against yourself when asked in a public hearing if they had falsified planning documents to boost a new gas station over a legalhurdle.

But they didnt, were told, do anythingwrong.

Spokane Countys unofficial policy of approving developments and then hustling to get them grandfathered in before theyre undone took a turn this week that even the most conspiratorial-minded of critics might not have foreseen. A landowner

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OK, just to be clear: Two Spokane County planning officials pleaded the Fifth Amendment you know, the one where you cant be compelled to give criminal evidence against yourself when asked in a public hearing if they had falsified planning documents to boost a new gas station over a legalhurdle.

But they didnt, were told, do anythingwrong.

Spokane Countys unofficial policy of approving developments and then hustling to get them grandfathered in before theyre undone took a turn this week that even the most conspiratorial-minded of critics might not have foreseen. A landowner wants to build a gas station at Argonne and Bigelow Gulch roads, on land the county added to its growth management boundary last July. Unfortunately, the state invalidated that expansion last November, also invalidating the zoning under which the projects permit wasapproved.

If the application was completed between July and November, it would be considered vested and grandfathered in. The seeming abuse of vesting is the loophole the City Council tried to close in March undermined by Mayor David Condons veto because it essentially allows developers to take a side route around land-use laws with the county commissionshelp.

The latest allegation, if true, would amount to a whole new level of chicanery. The projects first Determination of Completeness was signed Jan. 27 of this year. Too late for vesting. Well after too late. And yet the project was moving forward with the countys blessing. Rick Eichstaedt, the attorney for neighbors challenging the project, inquired about this discrepancy. Within a couple of days, a new permitappeared.

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Shawn Vestal: County permit clerical mishap raises eyebrows - Fri, 23 May 2014 PST