Community invited to discuss future plan for downtown Spokane

City officials and business leaders are inviting residents to attend a public workshop on Wednesday to formulate goals and strategies for the future of downtown.

The workshop, scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at the Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St., is an informal, drop-in format at which sticky notes will be provided so citizens can comment on plans.

“It’s a really casual and interactive process for people to come in and see lots of different board maps, pictures and displays that illustrate the ideas that we’ve already heard and then to weigh in on those ideas,” said Kirsten Davis, a city spokeswoman.

The first public workshop for the plan, which is a collaboration between the city and Downtown Spokane Partnership, was Oct. 22. The purpose of the meetings is to seek community feedback to update the city’s plan, “Fast Forward Spokane Downtown Plan Update,” which was drafted in 2008.

“It’s really important for people to weigh in now because we’re going to base what the future is going to be off of this feedback,” Davis said. “This is their window of opportunity.”

After Wednesday’s meeting, the plan will go to the planning commission, assuming the city and DSP believe they have received adequate feedback from the community and major stakeholders. One of the goals is for the city to have thriving arts, culture and history sectors.

Jackie Caro, Terrain operations director, said she was happy to have arts included in the planning.

“Not only does it create a downtown that’s more culturally diverse, it creates things to do,” Caro said.

Another goal is for Spokane to be a great place to live and work, said Alan Chatham, Riverside Neighborhood Council chair.

“One of the things that we’re most interested in is increasing the residential density,” Chatham said, and “wanting to emphasize downtown’s role as a neighborhood with people who live there.”

Other goals include having a connected and walkable corridor , welcoming and engaging public spaces and a well-managed downtown. Stakeholders hope to finalize the plan by mid-May.