Paper Company Granted Rezone

Sat., Aug. 21, 1999

By Pat Sciuchetti pats@spokesman.com

The Spokane County hearing examiner has approved a zone change that will allow construction of a community complex and several business parks in the Mirabeau Point area.

Hearing examiner Mike Dempsey approved the rezone of about 106 acres from rural residential (RR-10) to light industrial (I-2). The change will allow the owner of the land, Inland Empire Paper Co., to develop the land itself or sell it for the development of two or more business parks with offices, light industry, retail and recreational uses.

Inland Empire Paper hopes the future campuslike business parks will be home to several high-tech companies.

Now that the land is rezoned, the company plans to give roughly 50 acres of it to the nonprofit Mirabeau Point Inc. for development of a Valley community complex. Plans for the campus include a senior center, civic and cultural center and a science center focusing on the region’s natural history.

An adjacent YMCA, located on 12 acres of previously donated land, is under construction.

The rezone involved two pieces of land: 17 acres directly north of the former site of Walk in the Wild zoo and 89 acres southwest of the Spokane River and north of Indiana.

Wayne Frost, Inland Empire Paper’s urban lands manager, says a final decision hasn’t been made on selling or retaining the would-be business park parcels. Still, he hopes construction will begin before the nearby Evergreen interchange is completed, probably in late 2000.

The rezone includes several conditions of approval, including the requirement that developers of the rezoned property help pay for the new $23.4 million Interstate 90 interchange.

Inland Empire Paper initially agreed to provide $2.1 million in funding for the nearby interchange but backed out of the agreement last year saying it might not develop the land itself. Frost said this week that a firm commitment exists to help pay for the interchange, but who will pay, and how, when and how much has yet to be determined.

Dempsey approved the zone change because the land hasn’t been farmed in years and is now surrounded by commercial development, improved roads and the necessary infrastructure for additional construction.

Despite the approval, Dempsey stated concerns that some of the new zoning’s allowed uses would be too intensive for those parcels along the Spokane River. As a result, he will require proposals for those areas to go through a public hearing process.

Inland Empire Paper is owned by Cowles Publishing Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

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