Parking Garage Plan Faces Fight From Within Spokane Club Members Join Group Against 6-Story Building On River

A proposal to build a parking garage on the banks of the Spokane River is causing a rift among members of one of the city’s most prestigious social clubs.

The Spokane Club wants to build the six-story garage next to its athletic center on Main Avenue, behind the private club’s restaurant, hotel and conference center at 1002 W. Riverside Ave.

Critics say the garage would tarnish the city’s most treasured asset - the river gorge and falls area. They also say the 44-foot-high structure would destroy views from the row of buildings lining Riverside, including the Masonic Temple.

Opponents formed a group called “Neighbors of the Spokane Falls and Rapids.” The name is reminiscent of a similar group, “Friends of the Falls,” which united last year to oppose the nearby Lincoln Street bridge proposal.

Five of the newest group’s eight leaders are Spokane Club members who say the club’s directors have dismissed their concerns. The club’s membership never voted on the plan, said Bob Ogden, president of North Coast Life Insurance Co.

“As members, they’ve ignored us,” said Ogden, who adds that views from his building at 1116 W. Riverside would be blocked by the garage.

Gordon Budke, Spokane Club president, said the primary job of the board of directors is to address members’ concerns. Currently, their greatest concern is a lack of parking near the club, he said, adding he’s heard only a few complaints about the proposal.

“The board of directors is empowered to make those sorts of decisions,” Budke said.

A meeting Tuesday afternoon between opponents and club representatives failed to resolve the issue, but both sides plan to keep talking.

The $2.5 million project would give the club’s 3,200 members an additional 103 parking spaces on land adjacent to the club’s gym. Currently, the site for the proposed garage has 69 street-level parking spots. The club leases an additional 43 spaces in a parking lot on Riverside Avenue. The added spaces would bring the total to 213.

“We’ve had a parking problem for a long time,” Budke said.

The proposal hasn’t been approved by the city. Because the garage would be built 100 feet from the Spokane River’s typical high-water mark, it must comply with the city’s Shoreline Master Program. The permit needed to build the structure is being reviewed by Steve Haynes, the city’s shoreline administrator.

Although Haynes is authorized to make a decision on the permit, he said he decided not to because of the project’s controversy. Instead, he will make a recommendation to the city’s hearing examiner, who will hold a hearing on the issue.

The club plans to argue that the parking garage is merely an expansion of the athletic club, which was built before the shoreline regulations were adopted. Basically, the garage would be “grandfathered” into compliance, said Stan Schultz, the club’s attorney.

The law permits “the continued existence of a non-conforming use,” Schultz said. “Therefore, a parking garage structure is an accessory to a non-conforming use.”

Attorneys for the opponents disagree. In an April letter to City Manager Bill Pupo, Seattle attorneys Peter Eglick and Jane Kiker called that reasoning “fundamentally misguided.”

Building the garage would “result in less, not more, conformity with” shoreline laws, the attorneys said.

Mike Maher of the state Department of Ecology agrees with that assessment.

“We can’t increase the non-conforming use by associating parking with it,” Maher said.

Unlike the permit for the Lincoln Street bridge project, this one doesn’t need approval from Ecology.

Nevertheless, if the city approves the permit, Ecology likely would appeal the decision to the state Shorelines Hearings Board, Maher said.

Opponents think the club’s board has been shortsighted in not looking for other parking locations.

Dorothy Alling, manager of the Masonic Temple and chairwoman of the Neighbors group, said the temple owns a pay parking lot on Main that is almost always empty.

“It’s not an unreasonable request to ask health club members to walk a block and a half,” she said.

Budke disagrees. Senior citizens and families with small children frequent the club, he said. “We want to improve the health and safety of our members by having them not cross the street.”

Budke said the club talked to other nearby property owners about buying land for a garage or leasing more parking spaces, but none of the alternatives worked. Building a garage on land the club owns is the best option, he said.

“The (garage) design structure impinges as little as possible on the views of neighbors,” Budke said.

Alling finds that hard to believe.

“It blocks our views 100 percent,” Alling said, adding the garage also will block views of the historic buildings along Riverside Avenue for people traveling south on Monroe Street.

The Masonic Temple stays in business because it rents rooms for special events and meetings, she said.

Budke countered that people don’t rent space based on the view but on whether the space fits their needs.

In fact, said Alan Arsenault, the club’s general manager, the club is working to improve views of the river by building a public viewpoint west of the proposed garage.

“We’re not destroying it,” he said. “We’re enhancing it.”

Ogden doesn’t see it that way, saying the garage would damage the river’s sensitive shoreline. But, he added, the club is accustomed to getting its way.

“The club is a powerful group,” he said.

What’s next The city hearing examiner will soon schedule a hearing on the parking garage proposal. The Spokane Club must post signs on the site and send notices to nearby landowners at least 21 days before a hearing.