Our View: Casting shadows

Spokane’s future does not depend on the fate of one proposed condo tower on West Riverside Avenue.

Still, the City Council’s decision on the controversial project on Monday will clarify the community’s interest in economic and social vitality through responsible growth.

At issue is a 17-story high-rise that a city hearing examiner turned down last year because of height restrictions in the comprehensive plan. That ruling was welcomed by residents of Peaceful Valley, which lies below the bluff where the upscale residential structure would rise.

For a quarter of a century or longer, there’s been tension between the Riverside and Peaceful Valley neighborhoods, often over the impact that construction above would have on the properties below: Traffic. Shade. Worries about the stability of the cliff that separates them.

The latest flare-up involves plans by developers Mick and Shelley McDowell for the condo project at Cedar and Riverside.

The concerns of historic, compact Peaceful Valley are understandable. Sandwiched between the bluff and the Spokane River, they look up to imposing heights, including the Spokane River’s north bank where mixed-use Kendall Yards is planned.

The reason for developers’ interest in the area is a resurgence of spirit. People of a broad range of incomes want to live downtown, slowing if not reversing the middle-class flight that emptied so many urban centers, spawning social problems in the wake.

This is a healthy trend. The more work-force residents back in the core, the fewer air-polluting vehicle miles by commuters. The more people living downtown, the busier and safer the neighborhoods and the stronger the commerce. The more private investment in the city, the stronger the tax base and the more capacity to maintain streets and sidewalks, police and fire protection and social services for the disadvantaged.

Those benefits may not erase Peaceful Valley’s worries, but they are a powerful answer to the inconvenience of inescapable change.

At present, the McDowells need the City Council to overrule the hearing examiner and let their project go forward. Chancing litigation no matter how it decides, the council needs to weigh the stakes, including the message it will send to others who want to invest in Spokane.

Saying no to the McDowells will prevent only the current proposal – one designed to preserve scenic corridors and feature aesthetically pleasing architecture and landscaping. These or other developers could build something else that poses many of the same consequences, and they could be much less sensitive to the surroundings.

Spokane’s quirky code would let the McDowells erect a 17-story office building, which would generate considerably more traffic and parking pressure. Or a wall-like structure, 150 feet wide and 150 feet high, that might cast less shade on Peaceful Valley but would seal off the river view that the McDowells’ taller, slimmer condo design allows.

The City Council could reject the condos and please the residents of Peaceful Valley – for now. In time, though, development will occur, and it may well reveal this proposal as a missed opportunity.