City rejects request for street parking

Developers and residents of condominium apartments on West Riverside Avenue lost a bid to gain street parking outside their homes on Monday.

The Spokane City Council voted 4-3 not to restore parking along the 2200 block of West Riverside adjacent to the upscale condominium project, which was built in 2002.

Council President Dennis Hession was joined by council members Joe Shogan, Al French and Bob Apple in opposing the parking restoration. Council members Cherie Rodgers, Brad Stark and Mary Verner voted in favor of restoring street parking.

The condos are located in Council District No. 2, which Stark and Verner represent.

An effort to find a compromise by allowing widening on the north side of Riverside Avenue west of the condominiums also failed on a 4-3 vote. The condo owners would have had to pay for the improvement.

Transportation Director Scott Egger told the council that parking in the area posed a traffic hazard in part because of a curve in the street, but also because the paved section is too narrow to handle on-street parking.

Rodgers pointed out that parking was allowed in the area until the condo project was finished and people there began parking on the street.

Owners at the condos sued the city after no-parking signs were posted and had won their case in Spokane County Superior Court. The city appealed, but before the appeals court could decide the case, the City Council last year passed a resolution prohibiting parking there. Condo owners had spent $35,000 on the lawsuit.

“This has gone on way too long,” said developer and resident Bob Cooke. “This is just ridiculous, just for some parking.”

Cooke and other residents said visitors to the condos needed nearby places to park.

Rodgers sought restoration of parking as an issue of fairness.

Egger on Monday said that parking could meet safety standards for arterial streets if the speed limit is lowered to 20 mph on that section of Riverside but that he was not recommending the change. Rodgers said she will introduce another resolution lowering the speed limit so that parking could be allowed.