Lawyer Says Project Application Incorrect

A developer who wants to build apartments atop the Sunset Hill didn’t submit the right application, says an attorney hired to stop the project.

Steve Eugster, attorney for the Carousel Lane Neighborhood Association, told the Spokane City Council on Monday that Ron McCloskey should have submitted plans for a subdivision but didn’t.

Instead, the developer applied for a special permit to build 48 apartments on the property along Westcliff Drive, north and east of the Indian Canyon Golf Course driving range.

“This process is an attempt to circumvent city and state subdivision laws,” Eugster said.

Peter Witherspoon, McCloskey’s attorney, called the comments a “subterfuge,” adding that Eugster was scrambling to give the council a reason to overturn the hearing examiner’s decision.

The neighborhood association appealed Hearing Examiner Greg Smith’s approval in August of McCloskey’s project.

Smith said McCloskey must provide appropriate landscaping, stormwater diversion, sewer and water connections, a secondary access route for fire engines and buildings of no more than two stories.

The apartments would be in four separate buildings along with eight garage structures.

McCloskey is building on land that was held for nearly 90 years by the Episcopal Diocese in Spokane. The church bought the property in 1908 as a potential site for a school but in recent years has had the land for sale.

“If this proposed plan is not allowed, this property probably won’t be developed,” Witherspoon said.

The council is scheduled to make a decision on the appeal next week.

, DataTimes