Neighborhood Center zone topic of discussion

There was a lot of discussion about the Neighborhood Center zone in the Sprague/Appleway Revitalization Plan during a community meeting Thursday, but again there were few specific items of discontent voiced.

The Neighborhood Center zones are clustered around major intersections along Sprague and don’t allow uses such as gas stations, self storage, casinos or adult entertainment stores. High density housing is a newly allowed use.

Carlos Landa, who owns a strip mall on the northwest corner of Sprague and Pines, said that the council adding more uses back into the various SARP zones seems to be counterproductive. “We’re looking at extremely high vacancies,” he said. “If we keep allowing more uses in each category, are we going right back where we were?”

An example is eliminating vehicle sales from most zones so they would be concentrated in Auto Row. That seems to be going away as various amendments seek to add vehicle sales back in. Sprague Avenue will never be able to go back to the days it was king before the Valley Mall opened, he said. “The intent was to change the supply and demand on Sprague Avenue,” he said. “Those days aren’t ever coming back.”

Spokane Valley planner Mike Basinger said SARP is a 20-year plan that needs community support to work. “The idea was to concentrate retail in certain places,” he said. “It’s really somewhat of a philosophical discussion.”

Realtor Mike King said he thinks the idea of the Neighborhood Center zone is to create a small town concept to break up the “five miles of strip malls.” But he believes that several businesses to the west of Argonne and east of the railroad should be included in the Neighborhood Center zone, not the Gateway Commercial zone. “It’s an unnatural fit,” he said.

Senior planner Scott Kuhta said the parcels were originally supposed to be in the Neighborhood Center zone. “Those property owners asked to be in Gateway Commercial,” he said.

Jennifer Johnson, owner of Jennifer’s Auto Sales, asked why the intersection of Sprague and Progress where her business is located is not in the Neighborhood Center zone. There are some small shops there with parking in the rear. “I just want to know why that wasn’t selected,” she said.

Kuhta said at the time planners wanted to concentrate on intersections that were “fully formed with good anchors” such as Target and Fred Meyer that were about a mile apart. “That area was just starting to develop,” he said. “We felt like there would be too many.”

Chuck Simpson said he has concerns about the requirement that new buildings be next to the street with parking to the side or rear. If parking is in the rear the parking lot is hidden from view, which may make it easier for criminal activity to take place, he said. “My concern is the safety and welfare of the people who work there,” he said.

Arne Woodard, president of Woodard Properties and Spokane Valley planning commissioner, said certain concepts are being missed. It costs too much for small business owners to comply with the new rules, including the architecture requirements. “It’s a competition of business is why Sprague has died,” he said.

If the city wants to go back to a time when smaller, local stores like Peter’s Hardware can open, then changes have to be made. “You have to eliminate regulations, not create more, to get that effect,” he said.

Basinger said what business owners need is predictability in what is required. “That’s why we need to hurry and fix whatever we need to fix,” he said. “We want to do what’s important for the Valley residents.”

Dick Behm owns land with a strip mall and restaurant on Sprague east of Argonne. He said he doesn’t understand why so many people have been expressing concern about nonconforming uses since they can continue indefinitely. The restaurant on his property is now nonconforming. “That’s a good deal,” he said. “No one can build a restaurant next to me.”

Behm advocated for turning Sprague back to two-way between Argonne and University. He also suggested expanding the Neighborhood Center zone east to Farr Road. “We had a vibrant retail community there,” he said. “That area is dying.”

City staff plans to compile the comments into a report for the city council at the Aug. 10 council meeting, after which the council will decide what changes should be made to the Neighborhood Center zone.