Hope for a renaissance

Clara Woods, an artist who makes her living restoring old paintings, may be the face of the future along East Sprague Avenue, a gritty neighborhood business strip long troubled by poverty and crime.

The district is just over a mile from downtown Spokane, where a revival is under way, fueled in part by a hot market for condos and a growing appetite for both the visual and performing arts.

Business owners and many residents of the East Sprague area are hoping to share that economic expansion. They recently won City Council approval of a land-use and zoning plan that will open some residential areas to commercial uses along the Sprague business strip between Perry and Fiske streets.

The plan renames the area the Keystone International District Employment Center and will allow a mix of commercial and residential uses.

Although it remains to be seen whether the name will catch on, the idea is clear.

“I think it will become a kind of cool artsy area,” said Woods, who operates her art restoration business from the ground floor of a commercial building at 1817 E. Sprague Ave.

A teahouse is planned across Sprague. A flooring shop is expanding into remodeled space.

A gallery is opening in the vicinity. And a trendy home-furnishing shop, the Tin Roof at 1711 E. Sprague Ave., is drawing well-heeled customers.

The area takes its international flavor from a series of Asian food outlets.

“Everyone in this area is committed to making a positive change,” said Brianna Sapp, a member of the East Central Business Association.

Woods said she decided to open a storefront for more room and greater exposure to the public, and she likes the low-key feeling of the area.

“I needed more room, and I needed a business location,” she said.

But the friendliness of the area is often overshadowed by a darker reality. Woods said she remembers going out her rear door and encountering a couple involved in a sex act in a car.

Prostitution has been a problem in the area for years.

Residential areas to the north are dotted with small, rundown homes. The poverty of many residents is apparent.

That contrasts with a group of finer homes and old churches sandwiched between East Sprague and Interstate 90 to the south.

During City Hall deliberations over the land-use changes, one resident objected to a proposal to allow a mix of residential and commercial uses in the largely single-family residential area south of First Avenue and north of the freeway.

The Plan Commission recommended expanding the mixed-use area only a half-block north to Riverside Avenue and a half-block south to First Avenue.

City Council members last month ordered the city planning staff to undertake environmental studies and other work needed to expand the mixed-use commercial area even farther to include the blocks between the freeway and First Avenue from Perry to Fiske streets. The council set a Feb. 28 deadline to bring back a proposal.

The council may hear more from residents opposed to the plan.

“We are tired of being stomped on, ignored and run over and dismissed,” Marla Dee Miller wrote in comments a year ago protesting expansion of commercial uses along and to the south of First Avenue.

Jim Hanley, head of the East Central Business Association, told council members during a public hearing on Nov. 27 that the proposal submitted by the Plan Commission was a good start.

“This is a good plan as far as it goes, but it should go further,” he said. “We as a community have to be more business oriented.”

Proponents of expanded business areas said the plan to build a new North Spokane freeway and widen I-90 through the East Central Neighborhood could eliminate at least 100 businesses, which will need to relocate. The city must make room for them by designating new business areas, they said.

David Clack, a property owner in the area, criticized City Hall staff for taking two years to complete the proposal adopted by the council on Nov. 27. He called delays “unconscionable.”

Councilman Al French said the East Sprague area has stagnated too long.

“We’ve seen no development there,” he said in supporting the expanded business area.

Jerry Numbers, outgoing chairman of the East Central Neighborhood Council, said the neighborhood is undergoing an inevitable transition and that there are too many vacant lots throughout the East Central Neighborhood.

The plan was developed over the past six years under a federal housing and urban development grant through Eastern Washington University’s urban and regional planning department and Spokane’s community colleges.

Professor Dick Winchell of the planning department at EWU said that it would be a mistake not to allow mixed-use in the two-block wide area between Second and First avenues.

Concepts for revitalization along East Sprague Avenue include pedestrian-oriented features, including landscaping; development of parking and a mix of uses on the north side of First Avenue and south side of Riverside Avenue, and promotion of a mix of commercial, retail, residential and other business uses.

The council also approved other land-use changes:

“Office-retail uses will be allowed in a small residential area northwest of Second Avenue and Thor Street.

“The neighborhood business area at Third and Thor, which includes a Fred Meyer store, was designated a general commercial area. Previously it was a neighborhood center.

“A residential area southwest of Fifth Avenue and Arthur Street was changed from single-family to multifamily uses. The western boundary follows an irregular line along Sheridan, Grant and Chandler streets.

Vacant lots have not been developed there because of challenging topography, including rock outcroppings.

“A mixed-use employment center was designated in a triangle of land south of Trent Avenue to the Spokane River along Hamilton Street.

“The council also changed the residential area south of I-90 and east of Liberty Park from single-family to two-family residential uses, despite comments from residents living there who wanted to retain the single-family designation.

“A small commercial area was created on a half-block between Freya and Rebecca streets from First Avenue to the alley between Sprague and First avenues.