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December 5, 2011 in City
Council considers rezoning, sale of vacant N. Monroe property
Traffic winds its way north up the Monroe Street hill on Friday past vacant property the city of Spokane is considering selling for an apartment complex.
(Full-size photo)
Neighbors of vacant ground viewed daily by thousands of motorists in north Spokane are worried about what the city may do with the two acres that include a significant bluff looking over the city.
The Spokane City Council today will decide if it will allow up to 30 residential units per acre on the plot of city-owned land on the west side of North Monroe Street bordering the steep hill that leads up to Garland Avenue.
Much of the property, which borders Glass Avenue on the north and is currently zoned to allow 10 residential units per acre, can’t be built on no matter what because of regulations prohibiting construction on steep grades. But portions of the land’s south end, along Courtland Avenue, could be home to townhouses or apartments, city officials say. The city owns the land, some of which used to be part of a curvier alignment of Monroe Street before the thoroughfare was partially straightened in 1951, according to news archives.
Neighbors, in their opposition to the change, cite traffic and safety issues, the loss of wildlife habitat and, most of all, the lack of a clear plan for the property.
Allen Schmelzer, a city planner in the Community Development Department, said the proposal is part of a long-term effort to sell city parcels that aren’t of use to the city. The land has generated little interest in previous efforts to sell it because of development restrictions on the site, he said. Changing the designation would allow more flexibility in designing a project, he said. “It has a great potential to be a townhouse-type development,” he said.
If the City Council agrees to amend the city’s comprehensive plan – the city’s long-term growth guide – the property eventually would be developed and sold in partnership with the Community Development Department as affordable housing. Schmelzer said the site would likely be targeted for families earning 80 percent of median income. For a three-person household, that would be $45,300 a year, he said.
But the department hasn’t crafted specific plans for the site, and officials say it wouldn’t make sense to spend taxpayer money doing so until they know if the change will be made.
The lack of a plan makes nearby residents uneasy. Some say that the land should be landscaped as a way to provide a welcoming gateway to the North Hill neighborhood or Garland Business District.
“We are not opposed to development. We are not opposed to growth and infill,” Stuart Berlessa, who lives down the block, said at a City Council hearing last week. “But the neighborhoods do feel that this is a problematic piece of property that requires more substantive planning before a zoning change is given to it.”
Sid Johnson, whose home borders the property, testified at the hearing that the city should be cautious about developing the land because the hill on Monroe Street remains dangerous, especially in the winter. The sidewalk is currently aligned with the Monroe’s old route and offset from traffic. City planners say if the property is developed, a sidewalk would be built closer to Monroe.
“If it had to be relocated to Monroe Street itself, unless there’s some type of barriers put up I think there would be extreme danger of vehicle-pedestrian accidents, and I can assure that I would be afraid to use that sidewalk given the speed of the traffic,” Johnson said.
Eline Helm, who lives across the street, told the council that she’s concerned that building residences geared to the poor could set back recent improvements to the neighborhood.
“The biggest problem I see if we have up to 60 units there and the possibility of low-income housing, adding hundreds of people right here to this property is going to create a big problem in the neighborhood for theft,” she said.
The proposal was rejected earlier this year by the City Plan Commission on a 4-3 vote.
Council President Joe Shogan questioned arguments at the hearing that the land should be kept as open space for wildlife.
“That train already left the station because it’s already zoned” for as many as 10 residences per acre, he said.
Council members noted that there already is a park, Emerson Park, nearby.
“The city just struggles with the open public land,” said Councilman Steve Corker. “The park department can’t maintain (the land along the Monroe hill), doesn’t have the resources to do it, and neither does the city.”
Officials said that if the change is made to the comprehensive plan, there would be several more opportunities for public input before any project starts.
“If it’s done very well, it could actually be a real benefit,” said Councilman Bob Apple.
Shogan, who leaves office at the end of the year along with at least two other council members, said the council must consider more than the testimony of neighbors.
“For us to say no development because we side with these neighborhoods, we also have to tell everybody else in this city we had a chance to get money for this for the general fund and we passed it up,” he said.
MAC faces angry crowd 
Dazzeetrader11 on December 05 at 12:09 a.m.
Money for the General Fund….lol…good riddance to Joe.
Jethro_toll on December 05 at 12:49 a.m.
Rush is history, Apple is history, Corker is history and the Knob is history.
I’m with Dazzee…Might as well burn any money generated by this.
Any of these morons know what 30 units per acre looks like? Ghetto’s ville.
polistra on December 05 at 4:13 a.m.
If anyone really WANTED to build apts, there are HUNDREDS of available vacant lots in all sorts of neighborhoods. No reason to break open a hornet’s nest like this.
DickAdams on December 05 at 6:19 a.m.
Caution, the Spokane City Council is at work, lead by hot tempered Joe Shogan their leader. YIKES!!
PassinThru on December 05 at 7:54 a.m.
I wonder who it is that would benefit the most from this move. Then I wonder how many times their seed money changes hands (is washed) before it gets into the pockets of the proponents mentioned in the article.
jessiepn on December 05 at 8:24 a.m.
Oh, north Spokane neighborhood – too bad Prop. 1 lost by such a small margin, or you all would have a greater say in how your area gets developed. Let’s just hope the city doesn’t use the current budget crisis to do something we have cause to regret for years – that seems to have been standard procedure in the past.
jddavis on December 05 at 8:33 a.m.
30 units per acre? Really?
Jethro_toll on December 05 at 10:09 a.m.
Maybe they could build some tar shacks for the Occupy Spokanistan movement?
valleyman on December 05 at 11:16 a.m.
@liberal: Is that really the best you can do? Name calling and being a trite demeanor really lowers the level of discourse. You’ve really become quite bitter as the pendulum has swung back towards a more conservative society as of late… Not that I blame you for the bitterness… I too felt rather bitter a few years back when the Dems swept into office and started really messing up my vision of the country.
The nice thing is, since this is America, we can have a dialogue and work together to ensure we get the best of our collective ideas through and moderate some of our more unproductive ideas. We shouldn’t say every liberal plan is bad or every conservative plan is evil. It really is self-defeating.
Prop 1 was a terrible idea, and not just because it was filled with liberal, tree-hugging nonsense. Any time you subjugate the will of the majority to the whims of the minority, you create tyranny. The REAL liberal in you must know this somewhere deep down inside…
greenlibertarian on December 05 at 11:54 a.m.
The land’s highest and best use would likely be semi-luxury condos with property designed to afford the most number of units that will have a view, always a premium real estate feature. Just sayin’.
But 30 units an acre would likely allow for 5 or 6 story buildings, and would likely block other homeowners current views and not sure you can build that high and certainly would not be in keeping with surrounding uses.
Loudin on December 05 at 1:56 p.m.
In this economy and w/better parcels available, I wouldn’t lose much sleep over the possibility of the sale and development of that piece of land. Granted, it’s a blight in its current state (another visual jewel in the crown of Spokompton); but building homes or apartments is not the solution. Access is difficult, traffic isn’t easily regulated (thanks to the curving grade) and there already is low-income housing in the area that is vacant (townhouse projects just east of Maple/Ash). Plus, any developer looking at this plot faces the difficult task of getting bank financing to build and mortgage financing for the low-income buyers they’re targeting.
Won’t happen.
That said, maybe the foul “Rub & Tub” joint (Suzi’s?) that just went out of business right there might be interested in developing a “Happy Ending” strip mall. It seems the whole of Spokane is zoned for that sort of “commerce,” being as the cops around here don’t enforce the prostitution laws. Human trafficking sucks, but at least it would prevent our retread political candidates from posting their signs there every election cycle. “Stress Relief” or “Joe Salvatore”…I can’t decide which is worse.
Loudin
johnclarke on December 05 at 3:59 p.m.
valleyman on December 05 at 11:16 a.m.
” the pendulum has swung back towards a more conservative society as of late…
Oh really? Guess we will find out next election.
valleyman on December 06 at 9:20 a.m.
@johnclarke: Didn’t we already witness this during the last two election cycles?
Dazzeetrader11 on December 08 at 12:47 a.m.
Martini time for Clarkie. he knows not of which he types.
Jessie I do hope Prop 1 and Envision show up again. It’ll be two years before the new beatdown of this socialist group.
I don’t think Prop1 would help this.
PLUS we now have a conservative council since Mike Allen picked up more votes in the machine count today. The verdict is in. Hand counting won’t help. It always goes the way of the election…never been reversed. SO this one’s in the bag.
Perhaps the new council will restore the contracts Verner broke mid term.