Change is on the horizon from airport’s new tower

Up close, the Spokane International Airport’s new air traffic control tower looks as if it has been superimposed on the landscape, the way Hollywood special effects artists built the Titanic on a computer.

It is so tall – 271 feet – that you can see it from High Drive on Spokane’s South Hill. The Statue of Liberty, from its feet to the top of its torch, is 120 feet shorter. Wednesday, I climbed to the top of the new tower.

There, the story of the Inland Northwest’s past, present and future is told in the vista that spreads out for miles. Things are changing fast here, folks.

The tower construction site is on Electric Avenue in the industrial park area of the airport. It will be finished in November, but the Federal Aviation Administration must then install and test its equipment, so the $23 million tower won’t be in use until August 2007.

At the construction trailers, I met with Todd Woodard, director of marketing and public relations for the airport, and Shannon Dunnington, project engineer with Kiewit Construction Co. Together, we climbed 14 flights of interior steps to the room where air traffic controllers will sit and watch the sky.

We then climbed a skinny ladder through a skinny opening and reached the roof. We could see at least 15 miles in each direction. If there hadn’t been a cloud cover – lightning finally chased us off the roof — we could have seen even farther.

We spotted the World War II bunkers on airport land, testament to its Geiger Field days when the area served as a training facility for B-17 bombers. Woodard pointed out where the old airport terminal once stood. In February 1963, our family sent my sister Lucia off to Italy from that terminal. The Smothers Brothers, famous comedy duo of the decade, were in the airport, too. They had just finished a gig at Geiger Field Officers’ Club. On a napkin, they signed their autographs for us.

It was an exotic morning in Spokane, a place that seemed like nowhereville in 1963. The current tower, a squatty 72-footer that looks as if it’s made of yellow Legos, belongs to that past.

We also looked toward the hills surrounding Spokane. New subdivisions are eating holes into those hills. The Neighborhood Alliance has accused Spokane County of not complying with Growth Management Act requirements that new developments have sufficient services in place before they are built. Commissioners expressed suspicion that the group is politically motivated.

But almost daily now, I hear people react to the changes they see as they drive familiar streets. They see those giant houses going up overlooking Wandermere Golf Course. They listen to the beeping of construction trucks along Hatch Road.

Homeowners in Washington and Idaho received property value assessments recently — Kootenai County values jumped an average 40 percent — and many wondered: “How did our humble homes and lake places get so valuable?”

Project engineer Dunnington has worked throughout the West. He said of the Inland Northwest: “It’s on the verge of being something. It really wants to burst.”

Some of us hope the Inland Northwest’s future bursts in a way that preserves the best of old Spokane and North Idaho. We grew up with prairies and hills and valleys, and you can still see a lot of green from 271 feet in the sky. If we allow every bit of it to be filled in, then we have learned nothing from cities that did the same and regret it now.

Airports reflect the health of the communities they serve. Big things are happening at our airport now. The terminal complex is undergoing major renovation. The new tower will be taller than the one at Seattle’s airport. We’re on the way to somewhereville, finally. Let’s get there — well and better.