Peaceful Valley residents sue city over tower plan

Fresh off settling one lawsuit over the placement of a tower adjacent to Peaceful Valley, the city is facing another.

Five Peaceful Valley residents and a group called Neighbors for Accountable Government in Spokane filed a lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court last week against the city. They allege that the City Council inappropriately gave permission to developers Mick and Shelley McDowell to build Riverview on Riverside, a 17-story residential tower, near Wilson Avenue and Cedar Street.

The McDowells and architect Steven Meek also are named in the suit.

The claimants argue that the council had no right to approve development because the city’s hearing examiner is the city’s top decision-maker on development proposals. The examiner, Greg Smith, rejected virtually the same building plan in 2006 based on height limitations placed into city code in 2002.

“Whereas the hearing examiner’s decision was based on extensive record … the council made its decision via legislative fiat without any of the procedural safeguards afforded by the examiner’s judicial-like process,” the lawsuit says.

The council approved the project when it unanimously settled a lawsuit from the McDowells last month. The McDowells argued that the city created height limitations for their property without giving them proper notice. They also argued that the new rules didn’t make sense because those limits only applied to residential buildings.

Council members said they felt the city needed to settle the case because they faced having to make a large payout. They also said that if the city lost, a judge could have allowed the development anyway. The settlement also gave the McDowells the right to lease other land in downtown where the McDowells want to build an office building.

Attempts to reach Mick McDowell were unsuccessful on Friday.

City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin said she wouldn’t have a problem fighting a developer in court, but it was clear that the city “messed up.”

Meanwhile, the McDowells met with Peaceful Valley residents on Wednesday as required by the final agreement approved by council.

The two sides met to reconsider options for public amenities that the McDowells have agreed to pay for as part of the project. Those include redoing and relighting the staircase that leads from downtown to Peaceful Valley.

Lori Aluna, one of the residents named in the suit, said the meeting was amicable, but that since the McDowells declined to negotiate the height of the tower, discussion was shorter than the two hours that were planned. She said no decisions were made at the meeting to change the amenities, though the McDowells agreed to consider a couple neighborhood ideas.