Corridor revitalization meeting planned

A plan for revitalizing the Sprague-Appleway corridor will have its first formal public hearing Thursday before the Spokane Valley Planning Commission.

Testimony at the 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 11707 E. Sprague Ave., will help planning commissioners refine the plan for presentation to the City Council in late May or early June.

The plan aims to give the 5-year-old city a downtown and to replace its long retail strip with a series of distinct districts – defined by new standards for architecture, landscaping, parking and dominant uses.

Based on comments at several informational meetings and in newspaper letters to the editor, the most controversial aspect of the plan may be the restoration of two-way traffic on the Sprague Avenue-Appleway Boulevard couplet. Business owners like the idea; commuters don’t.

City officials have emphasized that details of the proposed traffic changes remain flexible.

The first phase of the plan would be development of a city center district anchored by a new Spokane Valley library and a new city hall at what is now the University City Shopping Center.

Votes are to be counted Tuesday in a pair of ballot measures to provide the new library and other library improvements. Mayor Rich Munson said this week that yet-unfunded city portions of the project might cost $24 million.

The plan calls for a “gateway district” to promote Spokane Valley’s “auto row” dealerships between Interstate 90 and Dishman-Mica Road.

Elsewhere, planners propose a gradual transformation in which retail businesses would be clustered in “neighborhood centers,” with mixed uses in between – including high-density residential.

A “mixed-use avenue” segment east of Bowdish Road would be defined by more attractive buildings and landscaping, planting strips and sidewalks separated from traffic.

Residential development would be encouraged along Appleway Boulevard. Appleway eventually would be extended from University Road to Evergreen Road if the right of way can be obtained from Spokane County.

Existing uses would be grandfathered, and new development would be guided by “form-based zoning,” which focuses on appearance and offers a lot of detail about what is allowed.