Spokane7
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March 17, 2011 in Business
City foresees energy district
But waste plant status must be renewable
The potential for an energy-based development district around the Waste-to-Energy Plant could be compromised if the facility is not reclassified as an alternative-energy provider, Spokane officials said Wednesday.
Mayor Mary Verner said the district would be attractive to light industry that could use electricity generated by the plant, as well as the steam and flue gases that are byproducts of burning the area’s waste.
She said new industrial plants on the West Plains, parts of which the city will annex Jan. 1, 2012, would pose no risk to the aquifer that supplies city drinking water. The nearby Spokane International Airport and associated trade zone would be attractive to import and export businesses, she added.
But the city-owned Waste-to-Energy Plant would be the centerpiece, she said.
“We thought of it as a sleeping giant,” said Verner during a briefing of the airport’s board of directors.
City Business Development Director Teresa Brum said much of the infrastructure to support development is already in place.
An energy district would dovetail with Greater Spokane Incorporated’s clustered business strategy, she said, and federal money set aside to assist renewable businesses might be available.
She said the energy district is one of five Targeted Area Development zones where city officials want to concentrate economic renewal.
City Director of Public Works and Utilities Dave Mandyke said the Waste-to-Energy Plant consumes 280,000 tons of garbage annually, and generates 140,000 megawatts of electricity – enough for 13,000 homes – for which the city gets $12 million.
Next year, he noted, plant operator Waste Management will complete construction of an adjacent $20 million waste-recycling facility that will process metal, glass and other materials produced locally, or trucked in from Wenatchee and Yakima, he said.
But maximizing the district’s attractiveness to new tenants depends on restoring the Waste-to-Energy Plant’s status as a renewable energy resource, which was lost when Washington voters approved Initiative 937 in 2006, said Sheila Collins, Spokane’s government relations director.
She said legislators have refused to amend the initiative to again make municipal waste a renewable energy resource. Without that change, she said, the plant’s energy would be much less valuable to utilities required to buy green energy.
And companies that want to be associated with renewable energy resources would be less likely to build a facility in the proposed district, she said.
“The value of the whole waste system is greatly diminished,” Collins said, adding that there is little expectation the law will be changed this year.
“It’s a great example of regulation killing a revenue source,” airport board Chairman Dave Clack said.
Caldwell: West Point trained local bankers to survive 
DickAdams on March 17 at 9:03 a.m.
Does everyone know who David Clack is? Google him. And while your at it, Teresa Brum. Brum was promoted from historic preservation. I remember when a buddy and I had coffee several times a week at what use to be called, Fitzbillies on the corner of Sprauge and Cedar, and often Brum would be chatting with Ron Wells or his wife. We wondered why she spent so much time with Wells et al, other than Wells received RE exemptions on many of his property’s. Brum acted like a telemarketer calling the movers and shakers to tell them about how they could receive a real estate tax exemption. You know like the owners of $1. million condo`s who were given RE tax exemptions for 10 years. BTW, those receiving the exemption were provided with police, fire, streets, schools, etc, for free, and those of us who do not have exemptions, our RE tax are increased to pay for the freebies received by the millionaires.
Dazzeetrader11 on March 17 at 8:00 p.m.
Brum should have been fired years ago. She’s done the same as you descirbe with everyone with OLD OLD crappy buildings that should be on the scrap heap.
Lots of public money sent her way and she plays favorites. Unfortuneately she’s covered by the Vernerites. It’s a corrupt deal she has there.
My recollection was that the owner of the that old Bakery in Spokane asked for some rehap help for plumbing and electrical…but was denied. This city is in trouble with its administration who do get money for their favorites. Well is one. I think there are others who keep things pretty quiet.
Someone named Chris ( I don’t remember his last name) was cleaning up. Same guy who owns those condos on Sprage that the city is building a brige for to the WSU campus.right over the tracks. Talk about a doomed project. BUT the taxpayers are footing the bill as part of a “development” agreement. It’s a 5 million dollar disgrace. If only the public knew how they’re being fleeced. 12 condos and a free bridge for the dveloper. The bridge feeds his property.nobody else’s.
Don’t kid yourself, it’s a big fleece job. Verner knows it too. She remains invisible for good reasons.
SPOKANITE on March 17 at 9:52 p.m.
So let me get this straight Dick: 1) You were having coffee at a business that operated in a building that was renovated by Ron Wells. 2) That business was only able to serve you tasty bagels and coffee at that location once said developer took the risk to renovate. 3) You’re bothered by the fact that he possibly received a 10 year property tax exemption for the dollar amount of the improvements he made? Yeah, like West First was such a darling place to spend time before some of those older buildings were renovated. Seems a little hypocritical.
DickAdams on March 17 at 10:09 p.m.
SPOKANITE: Let me tell you something. Wells was caught padding the expenses at one of his buildings, and he is also in violation of the fire code at another. Once the violation was pointed out to Wells by the fire marshal, Wells called Bobby Williams and Bobby overruled the inspector. Needless to say, his door opens inward even today. No, spokanite, you don`t know what the hell is going on. Period. A few years ago I passed along the information regarding the violation with the fire code to Steve Corker. Corker said he would look into the matter. That was the last I heard about it.
What about those apples, SPOKANITE?
SPOKANITE on March 18 at 12:43 a.m.
What do I think? I think you feel that someone received special treatment. Unless you were present at the plan review for the project you’ve no clue what the resolution was. The bottom line is that all codes do allow for some flexibility if the intent can bet met by some other means, and it’s not clear to you or me what that resolution was. Any decent developer will work with the city to achieve an outcome that has the least impact on their bottom line while meeting the intent of the code. That’s generally how things work, especially when rehabbing historic buildings.