Developer Seeks Zone Change For New Fred Meyer

Thu., Nov. 11, 1999

By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com (509) 459-5454

Developer Judy Hart won a change in the city’s comprehensive land-use plan in June to allow construction of a Fred Meyer store at Third and Thor.

That was only a piece of the land-use revisions she needs from City Hall before a Fred Meyer can be built.

Now, Hart is going before the city hearing examiner on Tuesday seeking a zone change for four city blocks just south of Interstate 90.

The property had been zoned for residential use. Hart is seeking a change to business use.

Hart’s proposal also seeks a variance from the city’s 30-foot building height limit in the proposed zone. The Fred Meyer proposal would have a mezzanine level for apparel and would be 40 to 45 feet tall.

The store would cover 103,000 square feet of the site.

Fred Meyer has offered to make extra improvements to the site in lieu of a waiver of the height limit.

Homes that once stood on the property have been moved. Some were sold through a donation by the developer to Habitat for Humanity in Spokane.

The zone change hearing is scheduled for the second-floor conference room at City Hall at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. It could be moved to a larger room if a crowd shows up.

Eric Johnson, co-chair of the East Central Neighborhood Council, said the proposal is not facing the kind of opposition that Tidyman’s stores faced in the early 1990s for a proposed store at Hartson and Thor. That project was withdrawn in the face of neighborhood opposition.

But the Fred Meyer project has again raised concerns about traffic congestion along the corridors leading to the I-90 interchange.

“It’s what it’s always been. Traffic. Traffic. Traffic,” Johnson said.

Hart had to win a change in the comprehensive land-use plan to support her request for a zone change. Generally, the zoning code must be consistent with the comprehensive land-use plan.

WHAT’S NEXT Hearing on Tuesday The zone change hearing for a proposed Fred Meyer story at Third and Thor is scheduled for the second-floor conference room at City Hall at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

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