Group Wants To Slow Growth In Se Area In/Around: Moran Prairie

A plan to turn nearly 25 acres of open land at 57th and Regal into a shopping center goes before the county hearing examiner in September.

Members of the Moran Prairie Neighborhood Association are meeting tonight to discuss a strategy for slowing the rapid development of southeast Spokane.

Association leaders said the future of the area hinges on good planning and not the kind of piecemeal development that leads to confusing strips of commercial property.

The association meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Moran Prairie Grange at 61st and the Palouse Highway.

Developer Rich Naccarato wants to build a 55,000-square-foot store, two smaller retail spaces and as many as 104 duplexes and apartments on the property.

He said his proposal will include materials that will be attractive in the neighborhood, including masonry walls, metal roofs and exterior glass.

His proposal goes before the hearing examiner at 9 a.m. on Sept. 3. The hearing will be in the commissioners’ assembly room in the lower level of the county Public Works Building.

The association is watching another shopping center proposed for the intersection of 44th and Regal just north of the existing Shopko.

Association members are being polled on their opinions of the proposal by Dr. Ralph Berg and his wife, Mary. The couple want to build a 70,000-square-foot store, a restaurant and a video store at the site.

Opposition is growing, association leaders said.

“There are a lot of people who are upset about the sheer size and scope of it,” said Greg Sweeney, a member of the association’s steering committee.

He said the proposals by Naccarato and the Bergs would put two new supersize stores within 13 blocks of each other and in competition to the existing Albertsons supermarket to the west of Shopko.

“These are two massive projects for the same corridor,” he said. “Most people feel they have adequate shopping in the neighborhood already.”

Earlier this year, the neighborhood association urged the county commissioners and the city Plan Commission to slap a moratorium on all new development in southeast Spokane.

Urban runoff last winter caused flooded basements, yards, parking lots and streets. The county is working on a plan to channel storm water and is requiring all new developers to use lined evaporation ponds.

The city has agreed to join the county in planning a storm water system, and the City Council is expected to consider tougher storm water regulations for the south side of Lincoln Heights.

Association members are also concerned about traffic on Regal Street and 57th Avenue, both of which have only two lanes.

Leaders of the association have not taken a stand in opposition to Naccarato’s proposal, but they are trying to get the developer to consider ideas that will help the development blend into the neighborhood.

Greg Sweeney, a member of the association’s steering committee, said new commercial developments should incorporate an urban village design that mixes in pedestrian uses and neighborhood shops.

He said residents on Moran Prairie fear that Regal Street will become another commercial strip development like 29th Avenue.

Naccarato needs zone changes for the property to allow multifamily and commercial uses. Currently the site is zoned for single-family homes.

, DataTimes