Light Rail, Science Museum Top Downtown Plan Commission, City Council Expected To Ok Development Guide In March

Light rail on Riverside Avenue, a pedestrian corridor on Howard Street, a new science museum and a public square for informal gatherings.

Those are some of the ideas described in the proposed Downtown Spokane Development Plan.

The finished product will be unveiled Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center. Details of the plan will be explained and public comments collected.

The plan next goes before the Spokane Plan Commission and City Council for public hearings. It is expected to be adopted March 29.

“There is still opportunity to continue improving the plan as we go along,” said Michael Edwards, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

A recent addition to the plan recognizes the “linkages” between downtown and neighborhoods. The links emphasize the connection between the economic vitality of neighborhoods and downtown, including affordable housing, good jobs, safe child care and job training.

The issue was raised recently by neighborhood and community center leaders.

“There was a feeling that downtown always has the influence and support to get what it wants while neighborhoods get the crumbs,” said Don Higgins, director of the West Central Community Center.

“I was real pleased with the receptivity of the steering committee,” said Higgins, a member of the committee.

During the past year, citizens, business owners and city government leaders have been developing the downtown plan. It’s the first new vision for the city center since the 1960s. Other plans have simply been updates, without the studies on economics and transportation needed to make them work.

“This plan gets us back to reality,” Spokane Planning Director Charlie Dotson said.

Key elements include developing and marketing the Terabyte Triangle as a high-technology center. The triangle stretches roughly from Browne’s Addition to the Spokane Arena district, to the Riverpointe Higher Education Park.

The plan also calls for expanding the Convention Center across the street from the current site, finding a home for the Spokane MarketPlace, and aggressively developing more retail, office and living space downtown.

Specific strategies, an action plan and a timeline for implementing the changes are outlined.

The plan ducks the controversial Lincoln Street bridge issue, but suggests that light rail be built along Riverside Avenue.

The vision is organized around a pedestrian corridor on Howard Street with a trolley that would carry passengers from North Central High School, through Riverfront Park, to the medical district.

The plan was developed through a public-private partnership between the city of Spokane and the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

A 26-member steering committee guided the plan step-by-step and there were four public workshops. A Berkeley, Calif., consulting group, Moore Iacofano Goltsman, was hired to put it all together.

This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Plan unveiled The Downtown Spokane Development Plan will be unveiled Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center. Details of the plan will be explained and public comments collected.