Parking Plans Still An Issue For Shadle

Owners of the Shadle Shopping Center say they will increase landscaping and reduce the number of movie screens proposed for the North Side mall.

The investment company that owns the shopping center is planning a full-scale redevelopment of the property. Original plans called for a 12-screen movie complex, but that has now been scaled back to a 20,000-square foot theater with 1,166 seats and eight screens, said David Black of Tomlinson Black Inc.

That change and beefed up landscaping around the center were made after two meetings with nearby residents.

Black is representing the mall’s owners, Century Properties Fund XI of New York. The owners want to improve the 34-year-old mall on Wellesley between Alberta and Belt.

The J.C. Penney building at the northeast corner of the mall would be demolished and replaced by a new Safeway store. There would be additional retail pads along Wellesley along with redesigned landscaping and lighting.

Though nearby property owners support the redevelopment, they are challenging some of the design plans, including the internal traffic pattern and the number of parking spaces.

Spokane hearing examiner Greg Smith heard the issue Tuesday night and will issue a decision later this month.

Shadle owners are also asking for a reduction of 250 parking spaces from the city code, which would require 1,571. The basis for the request is that the peak use for retail shopping is not the same as that of a movie theater - with the possible exception of Saturday afternoons.

But another traffic planner disagreed. Todd Whipple of Inland Pacific Engineering, hired by the owner of Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, a mall tenant, said multiple movie screens create special problems that may require more parking. Those coming to one show would probably arrive before another ends, creating the need for twice as much parking.

“During the switch over, that’s when we feel there would be the highest amount of congestion,” Whipple said.

That would have an adverse affect on the restaurant, other mall tenants and shoppers, he added.

, DataTimes