Midway Plaza project OK’d

Plans for developing the Cordill Family Trust property can move forward after amendments to the comprehensive plan approved by Spokane County commissioners on Aug. 9.

Developers of the property, which includes eight acres south of Hatch Road and 28 acres north of Hatch, had asked that their property be designated “regional commercial,” which would have allowed the most intense commercial development including malls and superstores.

Instead the property was changed to “community commercial.” This zone designates areas for retail, service and office establishments intended to serve several neighborhoods. Ideally this means business clusters rather than arterial strip malls.

“Community commercial (zoning) gives us the ability to get started and to move forward on what we hoped for the project. Obviously, we would have preferred regional commercial, but the size constraints really aren’t an issue. A big box store wasn’t in the plan, so that part doesn’t affect us,” said Terry Snow, president of the trust.

Snow said that the 55,000-square-foot limit on the grocery store, the anchor of the proposed Midway Plaza, could present some design challenges.

“The general range of stores runs around the 55,000 square feet. A lot of stores want the right to expand them beyond that. The hardest part is the site setbacks. If we build 55,000-square-foot store it has to sit there by itself,” said Snow.

Snow said groundbreaking could be as early as next spring, depending on the progress of lease negotiations with an anchor store.

A bank, hardware store and doctor are among those that have expressed an interest in leasing space at Midway Plaza. “We have good interest, and I think it will only increase now. I hope we can accommodate them within those limitations that the county set forth,” said Snow.

The trust will continue working with a design development committee. “They have really been a good resource. These are folks that stepped forward from the community and wanted to work with us on the design of the site. We’ve had a couple of meetings with them already, and we would expect to continue to do that,” said Snow.

The planning commission recommended high density residential zoning for the eight acres south of Hatch Road, and the commissioners approved that. “There was some interest in an upscale restaurant there on the hillside. With high density residential we couldn’t do that. The south area is on hold for now. It’s all kind of up in the air.

“Through this whole process there’s a wide variety of thoughts on this. You can’t say this is what everyone agrees with. That’s just not going to happen. But we’re trying to do what works best for the community,” said Snow.