Hi Andy,
I think what I'll do for the moment is to setup a SQL function, stored procedure to perform the spatial query SQL server side within a sql view within the DB and just return the results back to Spectrum Spatial using a data bind, as in my case I only need the text data not the objects.
I do have a data bind that pulls current information but over time as properties change hands, are subdivided, or amalgamated, history is lost. To allow for this our GIS consents data is simply built from cadastre which allows spatial queries to pull historical data for properties that used to exist at a given location.
I'm sure all SSA users would make use of an ability to configure spatial queries within SSA though, as this would be very handy.
With this in mind within SSA you can currently perform spatial queries for an object at a location by using a buffered annotation created from the selected object. This does however require that the layer is available within a map overlay. In my case the layer has over 67400 objects which in my mind will be detrimental to SSA performance.
cheers