Hearing set on use of YWCA site

The Spokane hearing examiner today is taking testimony on a proposal to replace the old YWCA building at 803 W. Broadway Ave., with two new 14-floor towers for condominiums and street-level retail shops.

The hearing at 9 a.m. is set for City Council Chambers in the lower level of Spokane City Hall. SRM Development is seeking a shoreline permit to build the towers in two phases on the north bank of the Spokane River overlooking the upper falls and Riverfront Park. The property is within the shoreline boundary that is regulated by the city under state law.

Developers are required to maintain public access to the shoreline under the existing law. The City Council is currently considering a major overhaul of the city’s shoreline law, but the proposal by SRM falls under the existing shoreline regulations.

The property was available because the YWCA and YMCA are moving into a shared new facility under construction between Lincoln and Monroe streets just south of Boone Avenue. The city parks department is seeking to purchase the YMCA property on the south side of the river to include it as part of Riverfront Park.

Mike Prager

West Central

Building would be redeveloped

A small commercial building in the West Central neighborhood would be redeveloped into commercial and residential use under a proposal headed to the Spokane city hearing examiner, who has scheduled a public hearing on the project at 9 a.m. on Nov. 25 in the second-floor conference room at City Hall.

Owners of the historic St. Paul Market building are seeking a historic conditional-use permit for the project at 2023 W. Dean Ave. The proposal calls for construction of a second new residential unit at the rear of the lot.

Built by Julius J. Danielsen, an immigrant from Denmark, for a butcher shop in 1905, the building was operated as the St. Paul Market and later the Dean Avenue Market, serving the turn-of-the-century residential area that surrounds it at Dean Avenue and Chestnut Street. Since the 1960s, the building was used as a showroom and storage location for an interior design business.

Mike Prager

Spokane

Miss Spokane taking applications

The Miss Spokane Scholarship Organization is now accepting applications for the 2009 program.

Age categories include Miss, age 17-24, and a high school senior; Teen, age 13-17, and not a high school senior; and Princess, age 7-11. The Princess category is a mentoring program and not a competition.

The application deadline is Saturday.

For an application or more information visit www.missspokane.net or call Bev Wood at 954-0398.

From staff reports