Spokane Valley is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, and the largest suburb of Spokane. It is located east of Spokane, west of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and surrounds the city of Millwood on three sides. The city incorporated as the City of Spokane Valley on March 31, 2003. The population was 102,976 at the 2020 census, making it the ninth-most populous city in Washington State. Spokane Valley is named after the valley of the Spokane River, in which it is located. The city and the general area is colloquially referred to as "The Valley" by residents of the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene area.
Spokane Valley hosts a variety of community events such as the Spokane County Interstate Fair, Valleyfest, and the Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival and is home to the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum and the home ground of the Spokane Indians minor league baseball team.
History
thumb|left|Orchard in [[Greenacres, Washington|Greenacres, c. 1903]]
The City of Spokane Valley incorporated on March 31, 2003. At its creation, it was the third-largest newly incorporated city in US history (after Centennial, Colorado, which incorporated in 2001; and Miami Gardens, Florida, which incorporated about five weeks before Spokane Valley).
The city formed from combining the urbanized unincorporated areas east of Spokane City, including census-designated places (CDPs) of Dishman, Opportunity, Trentwood, Veradale, part of Greenacres, and East Spokane. The new city boundaries did not include the incorporated areas such as Millwood and Liberty Lake, nor the protected areas such as the Dishman Hills Natural Area. It was initially delayed by a petition from Spokane, because it included the Yardley industrial area, to which Spokane had already extended utilities, and had plans to annex. Prior to the successful vote May 21, 2002, there had been four failed attempts to form a city in the Valley. The main arguments for incorporation centered around increased voice in local governance and the threat of annexation by the City of Spokane. The main arguments against incorporation included contentment with Spokane County provided services and the threat of increased taxes and bureaucracy by the new city. Both sides claimed their opponents' arguments were entirely untrue scare tactics.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Water features in the city include Shelley Lake, a small lake which is fed by the Saltese Creek.
The City of Spokane Valley lies along the banks of the Spokane River as it flows from its source in Lake Coeur d'Alene on its way to the Columbia River at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake reservoir. The valley is within the Northern Rockies Level III ecoregion. The valley exhibits signs of the prehistoric geologic events that shaped the area and region such as the Missoula Floods which ended 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. The Spokane valley was gouged out by repeated failures in the ice dam that held Glacial Lake Missoula.
The city of Spokane Valley is part of the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene Combined Statistical Area (CSA) and lies between the two anchor cities, directly east of Spokane and to the west of Coeur d'Alene. In 1940, the population of the valley was 10,000. Precipitation averages just over annually, with December averaging the most precipitation with and July the least with .
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