Garage Dispute Simmers Developers Look To High Court For Decision On Payments

Developers of the River Park Square mall told the city they aren’t interested in negotiating a proposal to buy the downtown garage or sell the land under it to the city.

Duane Swinton, attorney for River Park Square LLC, said Tuesday that the developer was also not interested in submitting the dispute to mediation “at this point in time.”

A lawsuit over the city’s obligation to loan parking meter revenue to cover the garage’s unmet expenses is already before the state Supreme Court.

“If you think about it, that is kind of the ultimate mediator for disputes in Washington,” Swinton said at a news conference called to announce a letter sent to attorneys representing the city in that lawsuit.

Mayor John Talbott, who had announced the city’s offer at his own news conference last week, called Swinton’s letter “about what I’d expect.”

“If that’s where they want to take it,” Talbott said when asked about Swinton’s reference to the Supreme Court. “He better be prepared for it to go all the way, and I presume he is.”

The council discussed another proposal in secret session Tuesday evening, and Talbott said he would be presenting that offer to the developers today.

“We’ll be conveying an offer of resolution,” he said at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Last May, a Spokane County Superior Court ordered the city to loan money to the garage under terms of a 1997 ordinance. The city has won a stay of that order until an appeal can be heard by the Supreme Court. That hearing will occur by mid-October, but a decision may have to wait until next spring.

Meanwhile, the City Council is suing the developer, previous consultants who projected unmet revenues and the public agency that operates the garage. City Council members Steve Eugster and Cherie Rodgers have a separate lawsuit to block the loan, allow the city to dissolve the Spokane Parking Public Development Authority and declare the way it is being operated as a public-private partnership illegal.

The mall is owned by River Park Square LLC, an affiliate of Cowles Publishing Co, which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

Last week, Talbott released two of the city’s proposals. One, from July, suggested the developers buy the garage from a private foundation that has sold $31.5 million in bonds to purchase the facility, and operate the garage separate from the city. The alternative proposal would be for the developers to sell the land beneath the garage, on which it collects rent, to the city. That would allow the city to control the building and the land.

Another proposal was to submit the dispute to one of four mediators that included two members of Gonzaga University faculty and two senior federal judges.

“They should negotiate or mediate,” Talbott said at the time. “These offers have been on the table for some time.”

But Swinton said he had told the city’s attorney, O. Yale Lewis Jr., several weeks ago that the developers were not interested in the proposal for them to buy the garage or sell the land to the city.

While he would not close off any possibility of negotiations, Swinton said there were no discussions at this time.

“Candidly, city statements, particularly those from Mayor Talbott and Councilman Eugster, concerning negotiations seem more calculated for public relations, and possibly to affect the attitudes of voters, than they do to resolve serious issues,” Swinton wrote in his letter to Lewis.

Later Tuesday, Talbott said Swinton was the one politicking. “They’re essentially saying `Throw out the people who are trying to clean this up.”’