Sue Lani Mandsen: West Hills neighbors feel bypassed again

It looks like any other small town bisected by a highway, then bypassed by a freeway. A couple of aging early motoring era motels. An old gas station. A church, a few commercial structures but even more vacant lots where buildings have been torn down.

Ask an old-timer and they’ll tell you about the days when there was a real grocery store, pharmacies, a florist, an elementary school and one of the finest restaurants in Spokane with a panoramic view over the city below. A time when the West Hills neighborhood had a business district.

The decline started when Interstate 90 planners neglected to provide a promised offramp to access West Hills businesses, according to members of the West Hills Neighborhood Council. Tourist traffic to the motels dried up; low weekly and monthly rates became the norm. Whittier School closed in the 1960s and was torn down in the 1970s. Businesses gradually disappeared. The Sunset Bridge connecting most of the West Hills neighborhood to the city is literally falling apart. Two lanes are closed. A sidewalk was barricaded after a chunk of railing fell into Hangman Creek.

“WSDOT spent $59 million on three roundabouts at the Geiger overpass but can’t find funds to fix the bridge,” said William Hagy, West Hills Neighborhood Council president. He’s also concerned about the Rosamond Avenue and Lindeke Street bridges across I-90. Hagy made the “WSDOT FIX OUR BRIDGES” sign for the protest organized by Save Our West Hills outside the building converted to house the new Catalyst Housing program.

The protest coincided with Gov. Jay Inslee’s RSVP-only news conference at Catholic Charities’ latest acquisition. The Catalyst, formerly known as the Quality Inn, was originally the acclaimed Spokane House. Mayor Nadine Woodward wasn’t even invited. A governor traveling more than 260 miles to tour a key program in his plan to address the largest WSDOT right-of-way homeless encampment in Washington for 2022 and bypassing the mayor of the second-largest city in his state can only be described as political petulance or poor planning.

Hanging out with the protesters was a catalyst to learning why the West Hills Neighborhood feels bypassed in planning their own future.

“They label us as NIMBYs because we’re opposing the Catalyst, but we’re opposing it on a number of levels,” Hagy said.

Their concern starts with the compression of social services into a single neighborhood, which Hagy describes as a violation of Growth Management Act principles and the city’s comprehensive plan. With Catalyst this year and the new Agnes Haven slated for 2023, the West Hills neighborhood will have five major Catholic Charities properties and more than 10 locations operating as low-barrier, transitional or permanent supportive housing.

“The community is very well aware of what’s happened downtown,” said Hagy, referring to the expanded operations in the area surrounding the House of Charity. “It breaks my heart. They have good intentions, but it just doesn’t work out.”

The Catalyst project is located just west of Finch Arboretum, which Hagy describes as a “historical gem” where he spent much of his childhood. More caution is advisable these days. Neighbors say illegal camping has become a problem, and they don’t want to see it get worse.

Jonathan Mallahan of Catholic Charities confirmed they have negotiated a temporary easement with Spokane Parks and Recreation to complete the perimeter fence along the arboretum. He described extensive security precautions and staffing planned to identify and regulate guests in the facility, but that doesn’t allay the fears of neighbors who have seen how drug dealers have followed their potential clients to nearby low-budget motel housing. Predators always move with their prey.

The Catalyst being operated as a program rather than under Washington’s landlord-tenant laws might be the best protection for the neighborhood. Mallahan said Catholic Charities will carefully screen for motivated guests and expects to evict anyone who violates the terms of the good neighbor agreement. Landlords, even nonprofit landlords, will tell you evicting someone with a lease in the name of protecting the safety of other tenants and neighbors is extremely difficult.

Neighbors see West Hills as a logical place for a vibrant near-downtown urban neighborhood, the next Kendall Yards. But since two major nonprofits in Catholic Charities and Empire Health Foundation have bought up chunks of property, the momentum for private projects has stalled.

“We’re losing an estimated $100 million worth of new development because they don’t want to be anywhere near Catholic Charities properties,” Hagy said. “Private developers have tabled plans for more housing, mixed housing and retail, a restaurant and a three-story office building.”

Being bisected and bypassed was a tough blow. It’s the lost opportunities to revitalize the West Hills as a full-service neighborhood that really sting.

Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com.

The column has been updated to correct who organized the protests on Monday.