It may be water over the dam by now, but the Spokane Park Board’s decision to block a condominium project on the south bank of the Spokane River two years ago has become an albatross.

In 2006, after the YMCA announced plans to build a new facility and vacate the quarters it had occupied since the 1960s, a private developer offered $5.3 million for the one-acre site with its 227 feet of river frontage. But the Spokane Park Board had an option to match any offer and acquire the land itself, and that’s what it decided to do.

Now it’s having difficulty coming up with the money, and the preferred strategy is to tap Spokane County’s Conservation Futures fund.

As the Park Board sees it, the Y land adjacent to Riverfront Park is a natural area, or at least it would be after the building has been torn down. Maybe, but we don’t think the voters who have generously and consistently approved property tax assessments for the conservation fund expected it to be spent on downtown property.

No doubt, the idea of putting a 14-story condo tower along the bank of the river that distinguishes downtown Spokane sends a chill down the spine of “Near Nature, Near Perfect” advocates. But that automatic hostility to private investment is as hasty as the Park Board’s decision in 2006.

The city’s planners can use regulatory tools to ensure that such a project is done right and that public access to the river is protected. The Shoreline Management Act is an effective safeguard against an architectural monstrosity.

Back when the property went on the market, downtown residential development was on something of a hot streak, a trend that has been interrupted by the economic downturn but is certain to return in time. Had the private purchase gone through, the land would be on the tax rolls and the prospect of construction jobs and urban vitality once the economy recovers would be alive.

Instead, the Park Board is scrambling to come up with the $4.3 million it still owes. None of the funding options is particularly promising or attractive, and even if the problems can be solved, the city will have taken on additional maintenance burdens at a time when belt-tightening is needed – all while throwing away some $1 million a year in property taxes the city stood to collect eventually from a private enterprise.

Coincidentally, $1 million is what the Park Board put down on the Y property and what it could lose if some way isn’t found to finish the deal.

This experience should make the city think twice next time it’s inclined to scorn private investment in the urban core.