Mixed Uses Proposed For Site On 29th

Developer Glen Cloninger envisions a small commercial park of pedestrian-friendly businesses, a restaurant, and apartments above the shops.

He wants to put it on the last large undeveloped piece of land on 29th Avenue between Lincoln Heights and the Manito Shopping Center.

To make it fit into the neighborhood, he would install plenty of landscaping and sidewalks to encourage pedestrians.

The mixed-use development, called Grapetree Park, represents the wave of the future, a new type of urban development, he said.

He is asking the Spokane Plan Commission to change the city’s comprehensive land-use plan to allow such mixed-use developments in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood.

The Plan Commission meets at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 at City Hall to consider its decision.

“You wouldn’t believe what an exciting opportunity this is,” Cloninger said.

But his project is facing opposition from area residents who fear retail shops would add to the existing congestion on 29th Avenue and further extend the strip commercial zoning found to the east.

“We think it is an inappropriate land use,” said Mike Taylor, who lives across 29th from Cloninger’s property.

Taylor said the Lincoln Heights Specific Land Use Plan calls for using the property as a buffer between the retail area to the east and the single-family neighborhoods around it.

Already, Cloninger has developed the popular Applebee’s Restaurant on his property near 29th and Martin. The restaurant is at the southeast corner of his 7.7-acre site.

The existing zoning also allows offices and apartments.

Cloninger, an architect, said he could build up to 140 apartments under current zoning.

He said there is not enough demand to warrant construction of offices, but there is a need for more neighborhood shops.

But retail businesses are not allowed under the property’s present zoning.

Under city law, he cannot obtain a zone change until he wins an amendment to the comprehensive land-use plan.

The only place in the city where mixed-use developments are allowed is along the north bank of the Spokane River, where urban renewal has been going on for years, said Steve Haynes of the city planning staff.

“It’s a concept that has its merits,” Haynes said.

Mixed-use developments are not allowed in other portions of the city, including Lincoln Heights.

That presents a hurdle for Cloninger, who must win Plan Commission approval to allow mixed-use development where it currently is not permitted, he said.

Cloninger likes to use his Tapio Center development at Second and Freya as an example of the type of development he envisions for 29th Avenue.

At Tapio Center, the parking lots and office buildings are separated by groves of trees and shrubbery.

Cloninger said he wants to install sidewalks along with the landscaping to encourage people to get out of their cars. The sidewalks would be linked to the nearby neighborhoods.

He said he would use a lot of brick and stone in the buildings and sidewalks to give them a more attractive feel.

Successful redevelopment efforts in cities like Portland have combined housing with retail shops to create people-friendly enclaves, he said.

Some Spokane neighborhoods still have remnants of old mixed-use developments where apartments are perched above retail shops.

Cloninger said having apartments over the shops means people will be using the property 24 hours a day, and that would discourage crime.

Opponents argue that the retail shops would draw more traffic to the development and aggravate the existing congestion on 29th Avenue. The opponents also raised concerns about noise, odors and a loss of the existing pine trees on the site.

Cloninger responded by showing that construction of offices and apartments would bring just as many cars as retail shops.

The Plan Commission, which held a public hearing on the proposal last month, is expected to debate the land-use amendment and possibly vote during the meeting Feb. 12 in the second-floor conference room at City Hall.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of area.