Trail, Cemetery Still At Loggerheads Despite Talk Of Condemnation, City Panel Hopes For Compromise

FOR THE RECORD (Friday, May 24, 1996): Correction: The proposed route for the Centennial Trail would cross the Spokane River, then skirt an undeveloped portion of Riverside Memorial Park cemetery, out of sight of burial areas. A story and map indicated otherwise Thursday. Also, the city Plan Commission scheduled a public hearing on the matter in September. The story gave the wrong date.

A city panel is entering the debate over locating the Centennial Trail on the edge of a cemetery whose managers fear bicyclists and joggers will disturb mourners.

As a last resort, some members of the Spokane Plan Commission say they may recommend the city condemn a strip of Riverside Memorial Park about a mile west of downtown Spokane. Such action would need approval by the City Council.

The commission voted 6-1 Wednesday to hold a hearing in July and look for less drastic solutions. Commission members hope to mediate a compromise between the Fairmount Memorial Association and Friends of the Centennial Trail.

“I would be looking at this as a way of reaching better understanding between the parties,” said commission member Phyllis Meyer. “I’m not looking at this as ‘Damn the torpedoes.”’

In February, the association rejected the trail group’s proposal to locate the path along the edge of the cemetery. Despite the plan commissioners’ hopes, there is little common ground between the two groups.

Cemetery officials “will resist any efforts on the part of the city to obtain this property,” said Greg Tripp, a Fairmount executive board member.

“This is a private place. This is a place for grief,” Tripp said during the commission meeting Wednesday. “It is not a place for a trail. A trail is an intrusion.”

The paved trail, along the bank of the Spokane River, would follow the path of an existing dirt maintenance road.

If the cemetery board’s decision stands, trail boosters say they will have no choice but to route the trail around the cemetery, using Government Way.

But putting trail users on the shoulder of a busy street is unacceptable, said commission member Cherie Rodgers.

Cities have the authority to condemn land for parks and roads when there are no other good options, said city attorney Stan Schwartz. They must pay fair market value for the land, plus damages if the new use hurts a business or property values.

The trail may qualify as either a park or a transportation route, Schwartz said. But any attempted condemnation is virtually certain to be challenged in court, he said.

Tripp argued the trail just as easily could be built on the opposite side of the Spokane River through the West Central neighborhood. But trail planners say that’s not possible because the riverbank is too steep and construction would be prohibitively expensive.

Commission member George Nachtscheim voted against getting involved in the battle.

“If you could totally control the people on this trail, it would be OK. But you can’t,” Nachtscheim said. “You would open up the cemetery to intrusion.”

Bob Dellwo, another commission member and longtime trail advocate, argued the trail would be no more an intrusion than Government Way or the railroad tracks near the cemetery.

While an important link in the trail, the cemetery route would not be accessible from downtown at least for the time being. Organizers don’t have money for a bridge across Latah Creek, which is south of the cemetery.

On the north side of the cemetery, the trail would cross land owned by Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co. The company plans to put 1,200 houses on the land, which now is a gravel pit.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of area