Solution sought for truckers at chosen site

A trucking depot near the corner of Broadway Avenue and Havana Street seemed perfect for a new regional animal shelter – except to the trucking companies using the building.

It’s the right size, centrally located, on a bus line and already owned by the city of Spokane.

The city acquired the property at 1001 N. Havana with federal money to accommodate a railroad overpass. City officials agreed to sell the building to the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service for its appraised value – up to the nearly $2.8 million the city paid.

That alarmed Mark Barnes, co-owner of Fast Way Freight System, and Andy Flaherty, regional manager of Peninsula Truck Lines. They’d been leasing the building for years when their Seattle landlord sold it to the city.

Together, the companies employ about 100 people with an annual payroll approaching $5 million. Flaherty and Barnes said no other building is available, and they can’t afford to build a new one.

They said they think the SCRAPS proposal “makes sense” as long as it doesn’t displace their businesses.

County commissioners believe a next-door trucking complex may hold the answer. They have an option to buy the property from Paul and Willene Allison for less than $1.2 million and believe they can acquire it and the city-owned parcel for the $2.7 million they’ve budgeted. Some land would have to be transferred from the Spokane property, but Barnes said that wouldn’t be a problem.

Barnes would like to buy the building he uses, but neither the city nor the county could sell the property without a public auction. The trucking companies might be outbid and displaced.

Barnes said he would be willing to take that chance, but county officials see an opportunity to become the trucking companies’ landlord and collect more than $200,000 a year to offset animal-control costs.

“That’s a way better solution than just getting kicked out of here,” Barnes said, but he would prefer a private landlord.

Flaherty said he would need a commitment that Peninsula and Fast Way can stay before he could drop his opposition to Measure 1.

Barnes said he’s neutral on the levy.

“I’m not overly worried about it because I feel we’ll come to a solution,” he said.

John Craig