Downzoning proposed near market

A group of neighbors on the South Hill near Huckleberrys Natural Market is pushing for a downzone of about three blocks of property from multifamily to single-family use.

The idea is to protect the re-emergence of single-family uses in a largely historic neighborhood made up of fine homes built a century ago or more.

Many of the larger homes ad been converted to apartments over the years but are now being restored to single-family dwellings by a newer type of city dweller who admires the patrician feel and craftsmanship found in the older homes.

Glenn Tanner, who lives in one of four Tudor Revival homes in the Ninth Avenue local register historic district, said the grand architecture found in Spokane’s residential areas needs to be protected from overdevelopment and apartment buildings.

Ninth Avenue in the neighborhood includes a larger national historic district.

“This is what Spokane has to offer the world,” Tanner said last week while installing a new Victorian-style landscape that will be consistent with his English-style home.

Tanner’s home is one of four dwellings built and occupied by members of the early-day Comstock and Shadle families in Spokane.

He said that five homes in the neighborhood have had more than $1 million of restoration. On Eighth Avenue, a series of former apartment houses has been reconverted to single-family use.

“We’ve got an incredible neighborhood,” he said.

Because of the private investment in single-family restoration, Tanner said single-family homes are now worth more than apartment buildings in the area.

The proposed downzone is bounded roughly by Seventh Avenue on the north, by a line running at midblock between Monroe and Madison streets on the east and along Madison Street behind Huckleberrys, by Tenth Avenue on the south and by Jefferson Street on the west.

It could go before the City Council for final adoption as early as April 30. No organized opposition has surfaced, although one neighbor complained privately that he doesn’t like the idea of other residents imposing their economic values on the larger neighborhood.

However, apartment buildings would be allowed to continue operating under the zoning change.

The downzoning effort began in October 2005, when neighbors turned in a petition to City Hall.

“Both the significance of belonging to a historical district and the financial incentives into their homes have provided opportunities for neighborhood residents to rekindle their sense of community and create a welcoming family environment,” the petition says.

City planners said the rezone proposal won a positive reception from the city Plan Commission, but under state law, it could not be enacted without a larger formal public participation process. That is why it has taken more than a year to bring the proposal before the City Council.

The proposal has won support of the Cliff-Cannon Neighborhood Council.

Other similar downzones have been approved over the past 20 years, including other parts of the Cliff-Cannon Neighborhood and in the Logan and North Hill neighborhoods on the North Side.