Building A Dream County’S New Comprehensive Plan May Threaten Completion Of Doctor’S Sports Medicine Clinic

Dr. Joseph Sherman is living the reality of pursuing a dream.

He has been working in emergency rooms all over the state for the past several years, putting away enough money to build his own medical sports complex on Day-Mt. Spokane Road in Mead.

His efforts have won support from the local community, but his fate rests with the county.

If Sherman is unable to convince the Spokane County Planning Commission to grant him a zoning change, his dream could be crippled when the county adopts its new comprehensive plan. Under the land-use plan, Sherman would lose his existing commercial zoning and not be allowed to expand his medical clinic, which is already under construction.

Planning commissioners are scheduled to vote today on Sherman’s request for a limited development area, which would allow a limited amount of commercial development outside the urban growth boundaries.

Planning commissioners already denied Sherman’s request for an LDA in November, because his proposal didn’t meet the state’s criteria, said Planning Commissioner Mike Britton.

Britton said he could not comment on Sherman’s latest request until the public comment period ends today.

In the meantime, Sherman is alternating between working in hospital emergency rooms across the state and constructing his sports clinic by himself. The clinic is located on seven acres at the southeast corner of Day-Mt. Spokane Road and Highway 2. It is the only clinic of its kind in Mead.

Sherman spent Memorial Day weekend working an 84-hour shift in the emergency room in Prosser, Wash. This weekend he is going back for more.

“It’d be nice to work a 12-hour day,” Sherman said, with a chuckle.

Sherman, 43, came to Spokane in 1986 for an internship at Sacred Heart Medical Center after finishing medical school at Indiana University.

He fell in love with the area right away because of its many opportunities to pursue endurance sports such as running, skiing and paddling.

“I remember taking off my (hospital) scrubs, running downtown and placing 40th in Bloomsday and then coming back to finish my shift,” Sherman said.

It has been a longtime dream of his to merge his love of competing and his medical training into a sports clinic.

Sherman purchased the seven acres for $230,000 in 1997 from Ken Campbell, who was running a used-car lot on the land. Sherman then took out a $400,000 loan to pay for construction and building materials.

He found out his dream was in jeopardy when he applied for another loan and creditors told him he may lose his commercial zoning, according to interim urban growth boundaries.

Since he has a county building permit and has already begun construction on the clinic, he’ll be able to do business with a noncomforming commercial use designation, said Paul Jensen, senior planner for the county.

But if Sherman loses the commercial zoning on the remaining 6 acres, it will decrease the value of his land and limit the amount of money banks will loan him, said Ron Jacobson, Sherman’s private banker at Washington Trust.

Losing his commercial designation would also prohibit him from developing the rest of the land.

Sherman envisions a 50-meter swimming pool, gym equipment for kids and patients with special medical needs, and a cafe named after the Little Spokane River.

He has already laid a three-quarter mile multiuse trail that is frequently used by the Mt. Spokane High School cross country team. The trail is bordered on the north end by cherry trees.

The medical sports clinic is housed in the shell of an old barn that has been reincarnated with copper roofing and foot-thick soundproof walls. When it is completed, Sherman said there will be a radiant heating system beneath the floors in all the exam rooms.

Aside from roofing and some of the tile work, Sherman has built the clinic himself, thanks to know-how he got from running his own construction company while attending Ball State University, in Muncie, Ind.

“It’s not the doctor in the white jacket stopping by to see how construction is going. I’m out there doing it,” Sherman said.

And while Sherman is out there with his hammer and tool belt, a few people have stopped him for medical advice.

Jean Smith, a Spokane School District 81 special education teacher and coach, who lives in Colbert, was the first to ask.

“He still had dirt floors at the time. But he stopped what he was doing, pulled a bucket over and had me sit on it, and he examined my knee right there,” Smith said.

“Housing is growing so much there is quite a community that can access (the clinic) because the closest clinics are in town.”

She praised Sherman for transforming the area that once was swollen with used cars.

Smith is one of many residents who have voiced support for Sherman’s clinic.

In mid-May, a public meeting held by the planning commissioners turned into the “Sherman Show” when a steady stream of residents asked commissioners to grant his LDA request.

Craig Deitz, a cross country coach at Mt. Spokane High School, wrote a letter to planning commissioners backing Sherman.

“His improvement of this property is not only as a business, but he has also created a parklike venue that is offered up to the community in an area where the county provides little in the way of available park space,” Deitz wrote.

In 1977, Spokane County commissioners overturned the Planning Commission’s denial of commercial zoning on the land, which Campbell owned at the time.

That decision allowed the commercial designation that attracted Sherman to the land in the first place.

Although Campbell wasn’t looking to sell, he did anyway because he thought Sherman’s plans would do the community some good.

“This community needs a medical clinic, and I agree with his whole center,” Campbell said. “If they turn him down, I’ll go to my grave grieving because what I saw as a favor - a contribution to this community - may not pan out.”

According to state law, an LDA can be granted on an area that is clearly defined and contained by logical boundaries without altering the character of a neighborhood.

Sherman’s property is bounded by railroad tracks, Highway 2 to the west, Day-Mt. Spokane Road to the north, and Yale Road to the east.

Sherman believes the law is on his side and hopes the planning commissioners side with him as well.

“I’m saving trees, making trails through the woods. If they really want to do planning, encourage the more creative development that enhances the community,” Sherman said.

Today, planning commissioners will begin sifting through public comment on the proposed comprehensive plan. Planning commissioners are scheduled to make a recommendation to the county on the plan this fall.

The comprehensive plan puts limits on housing and commercial development in unincorporated Spokane County and sets boundaries to hold projected population over the next 20 years.

Under the proposed plan, low-density residential communities, such as those that exist in Mead - where Sherman’s clinic is located - Greenacres and Otis Orchards and would be limited to reduce sprawl and make the construction of roads and sewers more cost-effective.

The new rules are mandated by the state’s Growth Management Act.