Mike Foley: Lifting building heights would bring jobs

Why is lifting restrictions on building heights in downtown on Spokane Falls Boulevard important to us?

Jobs.

Jobs for workers, jobs that support families, jobs that build up communities. Over the past few years a wave of capital has come into downtown and reshaped it in a way that compares with the early 2000s when the Davenport Hotel was renovated, River Park Square was recapitalized and condo projects sprang up in and around downtown. Residential development is back again in a major way, city investments are huge for downtown right now, Kendall Yards and the University District grow and grow.

But among all of those great projects, one thing is missing and it’s noticeable: We have not had any new construction for mixed-use office towers. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 1983 to find the last time a mixed-use office tower was built, with the completion of what is now the Wells Fargo building. In some ways we’ve lost ground, with buildings being taken out over the years to create parking lots because we’ve not quite been able to figure out how to build enough garages: Around one-third of downtown’s land is parking lots!

The Growth Management Act calls for cities in Washington to prioritize dense urban development and this is exactly what removing these restrictions would do. What we also know is that Riverfront Park is already shadowed in winter, even with existing buildings. New, taller buildings would add to it but in winter time, and mostly in the south channel of the river.

When it comes to jobs that provide a great income for families, there are few that compare to construction. In Washington state, 9 percent of the workforce is employed in construction trades, while construction businesses paid 20 percent of all state sales and B&O taxes. The average construction worker’s annual take home pay is $50,000. Demand for new construction is expected to grow by 3.4 percent per year. These are all important numbers for our elected officials, our communities and the members of the Northeastern Washington/Northern Idaho Building and Construction Trades Council, and when we learn that there’s a policy in place that could bring these employment opportunities right to the heart of the community, we leap at the opportunity to say: It’s time to rethink how we view development on Spokane Falls Boulevard.

We’ve had nine years to put something on the doorstep of Riverfront Park under arbitrary restrictions, and what’s been in place has clearly not worked. If you know anything about construction, you know how cyclical it is. The market is currently supporting big, bold, urban development, and this is happening in cities across the Western U.S. So, why not here?

If we don’t get the right policies in place right now we may watch as the tide flows back out and we miss our ship, and we come back in maybe 10 years again to ponder why some of the best real estate in downtown has remained surface parking and how to get something bold and inspiring right on Riverfront Park.

The construction workers of the Northeastern Washington/Northern Idaho Building and Construction Trades Council are ready: We can see the vision of a park bordered by some of the best modern architecture in the region, and we can see how the jobs that will come from the construction of those buildings will sustain families and keep the neighborhoods they live in strong. It’s time for us to think bigger for downtown!

Mike Foley

United Association of Plumbers & Steamfitters L.U. #44

Spokane