RPS development

The city of Spokane faces the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars for its refusal years ago to release public records associated with its failed involvement in River Park Square's expansion in the late 1990s. An independent journalist and online magazine are seeking damages, plus attorney fees, against the city in a long-running fight that has gone from Spokane County Superior Court to the state Supreme Court and back.

The city of Spokane received notice this week that a lawsuit has been filed seeking documents that were used by city leaders to determine how much financial concession River Park Square developers should receive in the settlement of the bitter legal dispute. The document in question was prepared by city Financial Officer Gavin Cooley and was presented to the City Council in an executive session prior to the massive RPS settlement. After arguing for years that RPS developers owed taxpayers more than $30 million, the city allowed them to settle for a fraction of that amount, said Breean Beggs of the Center for Justice.

River Park Square issues are headed back to court. Spokane County commissioners voted Thursday to appeal a recent decision from a Whitman County Superior Court judge that said property taxes did not have to be paid on the downtown parking garage.

The legal battle over the city's failed involvement in River Park Square's downtown parking garage returned to City Hall on Monday, one year after the city settled a trial in the matter. The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 in favor of hiring a private attorney to appeal a judge's ruling that dismissed one of the principal participants in the deal.

The city of Spokane will appeal a ruling that kept it from collecting money from one of the participants in the River Park Square parking garage project. Mayor Dennis Hession said Thursday the city will ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the right to seek damages from Prudential Securities, the underwriter of some $31.5 million in bonds that were backed by garage revenues. It is appealing a final ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Edward Shea on the city's claims against Prudential.

The River Park Square parking garage did not have to pay property taxes during the years it was part of a contentious public-private partnership with the city of Spokane, a judge ruled Wednesday. The summary judgment by Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier, who handled the case as a visiting judge, frees up some $1.8 million that the city had set aside to pay in taxes if it lost the legal battle over the garage's former tax status.

The owners of River Park Square owe former City Councilman Steve Eugster $38,090 in attorney fees for work he did defending himself and his wife against claims filed by the mall's owners, a judge has ruled. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Robert Austin ordered the companies that own and operate the mall to pay for more than 1,200 hours of attorney fees now that many claims surrounding the mall and its financially strapped garage were voluntarily dropped earlier this year.

The last financial connections between the city of Spokane and the owners of River Park Square are being severed through a refinancing of a $22.65 million community development loan made in 1999 for expansion of the downtown shopping mall. The Spokane City Council voted 5-1 in favor of a resolution on Monday that clears the way for the refinancing, known as a "defeasance" in the world of public financing.

OLYMPIA – The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday said that Spokane judges wrongly threw out journalist Tim Connor's claim that the city illegally denied him documents related to River Park Square. "This opinion reaches to all citizens of Washington and protects their right to get a timely and full response from an agency," said Nancy Pacharzina, one of Connor's attorneys. Earlier this year, Connor won $33,000 in penalties and roughly $60,000 in attorneys' fees from the city for its refusal to release an earlier batch of River Park Square documents.