Poised for takeoff

In his small Airway Heights city office, Tom Lien keeps a running list of business needs.

A coffee shop, a dry cleaner, a printing store, a movie theater, a fitness center, an electronics retailer and the list goes on and on. So does the work for Lien, the town’s community development director for the past 18 months.

Rather than the big bang of a major employer, Airway Heights is trying to ignite interest in bringing small businesses to the small town straddling Highway 2 west of Spokane.

Since its founding 50 years ago, Airway Heights has closely identified with Fairchild Air Force Base.

Things are changing, though. Most people in Airway Heights are employed in Spokane. And many are building new homes and want the city to upgrade the look, feel and livability of this community with a population of more than 4,500.

To do that, the city initiated a survey to gauge what sorts of retail shopping and services that city residents want. The response was immediate and certain, said Chuck Freeman, Airway Heights city manager.

“We’re in need of more small businesses,” he said in a nod to the often overlooked importance of small business to the regional economy.

Not only do residents want more business services, but Freeman said the city needs the stability and future tax revenues generated by retail sales.

Nothing comes easy in Airway Heights, acknowledged Freeman.

There are deep conflicts among city residents, and business growth within the 5-square-mile city is challenged by development just outside its city limits.

Highway 2 divides the town in half geographically and economically. On the north side, homebuilders are busy. Cars glide along new, smooth streets and people live within walking distance of a nice park with a playground area.

The south side is dotted with mobile homes and often gravel or busted-up roads.

A recent social profile of Airway Heights found little in the way of community organization and described residents as apathetic.

The study by Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis found the poverty rate was 22 percent, although the percentage of poor has decreased with the influx of new residents.

On a quick tour of town, Freeman pointed to numerous new homes that were being sold for about $130,000 and several larger homes with price tags above $200,000.

There’s promise here, Lien said, despite a stubborn image.

He hopes business people take a look. Perhaps the best selling point: affordable leases and a daily traffic count of 27,000 along Highway 2. Plus, he said, in the 1990s, Airway Heights was among the fastest-growing municipalities in Washington state.

Furthermore, the town is trying to generate more foot traffic. Next month city residents will vote on a $5.5 million bond issue to build a new family recreation center. The idea is to give people more reasons to stop or stay within Airway Heights rather than drive elsewhere for shopping and services.

Another plan Lien is pushing includes the building of what he calls a “medical mall” in the building where Yoke’s Foods now operates a small supermarket. The grocery chain has plans to build a new store nearby and the big building that will become vacant could be filled with a fitness center, a chiropractor, perhaps a nutritionist and other medical service providers, Lien said.

While Airway Heights has a healthy city budget of $10.5 million that allows for its own police force, firefighters and other important city services, Freeman is looking ahead, and worried.

Growth without new business is costly, he said, so the city needs to up its collection of sales tax revenue through the opening of additional small businesses.

There is open worry about the pending opening of a Wal-Mart store just outside the city limits.

And there are growing worries about the influence of two Indian tribes. The Kalispel Tribe operates the Northern Quest Casino within the city limits, but captures the tax revenue before the city can collect. Years ago the city and tribe negotiated an annual $461,000 payment to the city to help offset the police, ambulance and other services the city provided to the casino.

Since then, the casino’s business has doubled but the payment has remained steady, a sore point with Freeman and other city officials who say the tribe has other big development plans that could add to the city’s responsibilities without adding to its revenues.

Now there’s worry that the Spokane Tribe plans to build a casino complex on some of its purchased acreage within the city limits, further limiting room for city growth.

Regardless of the challenges, Freeman said there’s movement: Parker Toyota has plans to open a car lot within the city, along with Les Schwab Tire Centers.

These are evidence of the promise of Airway Heights, he said.