River District may get county support
Spokane County commissioners moved this week to support economic development by channeling up to $25 million of state money to commercial and residential development in and near the city of Liberty Lake.
Commissioners set boundaries Tuesday for a proposed 1,300-acre River District “revenue development area” that will consist mostly of the 900-acre River Crossing mixed-use development in and near the city of Liberty Lake.
The decision sets in motion a choreography of public and private actions leading to the award in mid-August of a $1 million-a-year, 25-year grant of state sales tax revenue for a freeway interchange, roads, parks, utilities and other public infrastructure.
Among the details to be resolved is how the county will come up with the annual $1 million local match required to get the state money.
Liberty Lake has agreed to be a “participating local government,” and Spokane County will be the revenue development area sponsor. However, the local matching money can come from any source, public or private.
“I can’t see the county contributing from its general fund,” said Roy Koegen, the attorney who will represent Spokane County in a construction bond issue.
Similarly, Koegen said he is confident county commissioners won’t issue the bonds unless they are “100 percent insured” by a letter of credit from River Crossing or other private developers.
River Crossing is a combination of Centennial Properties and Jim Frank’s Greenstone Corp. Centennial Properties is a subsidiary of Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.
Commissioners are to conduct a public hearing May 15 on whatever plan they develop, followed by final action on June 19. The application must be submitted to state officials by the end of June to qualify for this year’s $1 million allocation.
The promised multiyear state grant constitutes one of three pilot projects under an economic development program the state Legislature created last year. Legislators appropriated $5 million for the program and set aside half for projects in Spokane County, Vancouver and Bellingham.
The idea is to make Washington communities more competitive with those in other states that have more generous public incentives for economic development. The Spokane County project was conceived as a way to improve Liberty Lake’s chances of landing the Cabela’s sporting goods superstore that’s now expected to be built in Post Falls.
About $16 million of the Washington state money is to go for construction of a new Liberty Lake interchange on Interstate 90, just as the state of Idaho is to pay $15 million for a new Post Falls interchange to serve the Cabela’s store.
One of River Crossing’s key features will be the 150-acre Telido Station shopping center, just north of Interstate 90, with up to 1 million square feet of retail space. The name comes from a former stop on rail line between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.
The development will stretch along both sides of the Spokane River for about 1 1/2 miles west of Harvard Road. It also will run about a half-mile east of Harvard Road, mostly on the south side of the river.
Plans call for parks, open spaces and trails to take advantage of river vistas.
In addition to commercial areas, River Crossing is to have up to 3,000 homes in a wide range of prices. Phase I, already under construction, calls for 485 homes, including 45 townhouses.
Creation of a sales tax-oriented revenue development area would be the second form of public assistance to River District projects. County commissioners formed a tax-increment financing district, with the same boundaries as the revenue development area, in December 2005.
The tax-increment financing district is expected to raise $15 million for the same kind of publicly owned improvements to be provided by the revenue development area. The tax-increment district will divert 75 percent of the new property tax receipts the development generates for 15 years.
Public infrastructure in the development district is expected to cost $72 million. Nearly $30 million is to be spent on parks and trails, including a $5.8 million sports complex, according to Greenstone spokesman Jason Wheaton.
In addition to $21.6 million worth of basic street and utility improvements, Wheaton said plans call for $2.5 million for transit parking and $2 million for wastewater reuse. A network of underground pipes would allow treated wastewater to be used for park and open-space irrigation.
Koegen said pending legislation would eliminate the current requirement for county commissioners to issue bonds for work paid by revenue development area receipts.
Other pending legislation would increase the state’s allocation of sales tax money from $5 million a year to $7.5 million, and would remove the limit of one development area per county, Koegen said.
The River District development area would be guaranteed its $1 million dollars a year for 25 years, but unallocated money in the new state program is to be distributed on a competitive basis.