Council Postpones Sacred Heart Skywalk Decision

Sacred Heart Medical Center officials are hoping their plea for patient and employee safety wins them a new skywalk.

The Spokane City Council delayed for two weeks deciding whether the hospital can build a skybridge across McClellan Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues.

Hospital officials want the council to overturn the Plan Commission’s March decision, which rejected plans for the walkway linking the hospital’s parking garage to the Southside Medical Center Building.

Plan Commission members voted 4-3 to deny the proposal, saying the skybridge would block the view of South Hill residents and those driving north on Grand Avenue.

Mike Kelly, the hospital’s assistant director of planning, said safety was the chief reason for the skywalk, which would “eliminate pedestrian traffic between the (medical building) and the hospital.” About 180 patients a day are sent from the medical building to the hospital, Kelly said.

On Monday night, Kelly showed the council a videotape of people struggling to cross McClellan and slides of a superimposed skywalk. It would have little effect on the view, he said.

North Side resident Sandy Smith wasn’t convinced.

“Quite frankly, I don’t want to see a (skywalk) in front of me as I’m going north or south,” Smith said.

Several doctors testified in favor of the skybridge, including Franklin Brown, who said he attended on behalf of the “safety of his patients.”

After hearing more than an hour of testimony, Councilwoman Roberta Greene asked to delay a decision, saying she is “trying to weigh the benefits in terms of the safety of the patients” against preserving the view.

, DataTimes