Poll By Sabey Corp. Shows City Voters Evenly Split On Downtown Project

Spokane city voters are about evenly split on whether they support or oppose a major downtown redevelopment project, according to a poll commissioned by a critic and competitor of the proposal.

That suggests the council should allow the public to vote on the plan, said Laurent Poole, executive vice president of Sabey Corp., which owns NorthTown Mall and paid for the poll.

Sabey’s poll, conducted Jan. 7-9, is similar to a separate survey conducted in December by The Spokesman-Review, which also showed the community divided over the project.

The new poll could even be interpreted to show a slight increase in support.

After being read two possible views of the project - a positive description in line with supporters’ views and a negative description in line with opponents’ complaints - 45 percent of city voters contacted in the Sabey poll said they support the project.

In the newspaper poll, residents inside and outside the city were given a brief description of the project; 39 percent said they supported it.

Betsy Cowles, president of the two companies that own River Park Square, questioned the results of the Sabey poll, noting that some of the details used in the negative description of the project were inaccurate.

The unfavorable description said the city of Spokane “wants to buy a $2.3 million parking garage from the developer for $30 million.”

That’s incorrect, Cowles said. The garage’s current valuation for tax purposes is $2.3 million, but its market value is higher. And when the project is completed, the garage will be larger, expanded from 750 parking stalls to 1,300, making it worth even more.

“We don’t know what the fair market value is, so we’re working with the only numbers available,” said Michelle Driano, a spokeswoman for Sabey.

In another question, pollsters told voters the project “will take $1.6 million per year of money currently budgeted for road and street maintenance in Spokane and instead use it to pay down the debt for the parking garage and shopping center.” Asked whether they supported or opposed that idea, 75 percent said they opposed it.

But Cowles noted that the $1.6 million would only be used if parking garage revenues fall short. Saying it will be used is misleading, she said.

Driano replied that changing the wording to “may take” may not have made a big difference in the results.

“The issue is taking money from parking meters,” Driano said.

The poll also suggests that council members who approve the River Park Square redevelopment project could be hurt more than helped at the ballot box this fall.

Some 44 percent of those surveyed said they would be less likely to vote for a council member who supports the current plan, while 34 percent said they would be more likely to vote for such a council member.

The remaining voters said it would have no effect on their decision.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Residents split on River Park Square