Spokane Valley City Council asks to help in funding key projects

The Spokane Valley City Council met earlier this week with state legislators representing the city to ask for money for several projects and lobby for higher state-shared revenues and more local decision-making authority.

Spokane Valley Republicans Sen. Mike Padden and state Reps. Leonard Christian and Suzanne Schmidt attended the meeting. Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley said they tried to limit their requests this year.

“We understand this is a 60-day short session, so we’re trying to keep our requests to a minimum,” she said.

The city’s first ask was for $600,000 to help build a new cross country course envisioned for land the city owns north of the Spokane River off Flora Road.

“It’s a project the council is in unanimous support of,” said Deputy Mayor Rod Higgins.

The city recently committed to spending $4.4 million on the project and an additional $600,000 would all the city to break ground, Higgins said.

“It’s great to see a project in Spokane Valley and not in downtown Spokane,” Padden said.

Councilman Ben Wick said the city would like to have the state contribute to an upcoming project to upgrade the intersection of Sullivan Road and Trent Avenue, which would require replacing the bridge that goes over Trent. The project is estimated to cost $36.5 million.

The intersection is in a major economic area, Wick said.

“There are 9,000 jobs right around there,” Wick said. “It’s an important one for our community.”

The city has not formally requested a specific amount of money for the project. The city also asked for funding to build the Idaho Central Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center, but Schmidt said she’d already put in a request for $1 million in capital funding.