 |
It’s almost the end of the road.
There were a few changes made Tuesday, but the Spokane Valley City Council is ready to move forward with the first reading of the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan next Tuesday.
The ordinance comes after three years of working with consultants, planning, public feedback, criticism and controversy. Citizens will once again be able to comment on the plan at Tuesday’s meeting, set for 6 p.m. at Spokane Valley City Hall, 11707 E. Sprague.
Before making some tweaks to the plan – dubbed SARP – after considering comments heard at April 28’s public hearing, Mayor Richard Munson and some council members said they believe they are doing the right thing by moving forward with a plan that will change zoning in many areas along the Sprague-Appleway corridor to spur development in a proposed city center in the University City shopping center area.
“Each one of this council is committed to doing what’s right,” Munson said. “For me, it’s been difficult. It’s easy to go along with the most vocal.”
“The easiest thing would be to do nothing at all and just leave things the way they are,” added Council Member Bill Gothmann.
Former Mayor and Council Member Diana Wilhite added that she has had “differences of opinion” with many who have criticized the plan, but “it’s good to have that dialogue.”
While many in the community have been most concerned about a component of the plan that would revert Sprague and Appleway to two-way traffic between University and Argonne roads while leaving the couplet east of Dishman-Mica unchanged, others are incensed that such sweeping changes to the zoning code will be made without a public vote.
Still, some comments that were brought up during the April 28 hearing were addressed Tuesday. The council considered expanding a “gateway commercial” zoning on Sprague due to car dealers’ request to have more options for themed restaurants, bars and nightclubs in the area between Park and Vista roads. It was ultimately decided to allow the zoning to expand include property just east of Dishman Dodge on the south side of Sprague in roughly the east 7700 block.
The council also decided to allow for more liberal commercial zoning near the freeway entrance on Appleway in the area of the new Cottage Café.
“Otherwise we’d have a number of businesses with nonconforming uses,” Munson said.
The council decided to compromise with a suggestion from the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce to extend the amount of time a building can remain vacant along the corridor before it would have to comply with new SARP zoning and architectural standards. The chamber board’s recommendation has been three years, while current city law calls for one. The council voted for a two-year compromise.
“That’s more than adequate,” said Deputy Mayor Dick Denenny.
At the suggestion of Munson, the council also agreed to remove a controversial piece of property on Evergreen south of Appleway, which currently houses a boat dock manufacturing business, from the plan. Munson said that the geography of the area and the surrounding residential homes make it unlikely to ever be developed under the plan’s standards.
“I’m making the suggestion not because of the rhetoric, it’s looking at an analysis of the area,” Munson said.
Susan Scott, who owns the property with her husband, has been a vocal critic of the plan.
Finally, Gothmann said he doesn’t care for the “residential boulevard” zone classification that would define much of Appleway that would allow for a mix of office uses and multi-family housing. City staff members said they would try to come up with some alternate terminology by next week’s meeting.
|
|
By
Mike Huffman
