Eugster Claims Plan Violates State Laws

A Spokane attorney claims the city is violating state environmental laws in its planned purchase of a downtown parking garage.

Stephen Eugster sent a letter to Spokane officials this week outlining his problems with the city’s plan to buy the River Park Square garage.

River Park Square is owned by Lincoln Investment Co. and Citizens Realty Co., affiliates of Cowles Publishing Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review.

“The City Council is trying to provide a gift to Spokane’s wealthiest family,” Eugster said in an interview. “The government’s purpose is not to provide financial support to wealthy people.”

If the city does not take the appropriate steps to comply with the state Environmental Policy Act, Eugster says he’ll sue.

City Attorney James Sloane said it is the developer’s responsibility to follow the act because the city is merely buying the garage, not building it.

“We obviously considered” the law, Sloane said. “There are always different views as to what the law requires.”

The Environmental Policy Act requires government agencies to consider the environmental impacts of developments.

Eugster has sued the city over a range of issues, including the planned Lincoln Street Bridge and the creation of a downtown business district.

In the letter, Eugster said the environmental law requires the city to examine alternatives to buying the garage. That, in turn, requires the city to state its purpose in buying the garage, he said.

“The city’s share of the River Park Square Public Private Partnership must be described,” Eugster said in the letter. “This description is important because (the law) requires that there be a discussion and analysis of ‘alternatives to the proposed action.”’

If the purpose is to revitalize downtown, Eugster said, there are alternate approaches that should be examined.

“They can think of 25 different things to vitalize downtown Spokane other than building a shopping center,” Eugster said.

Betsy Cowles, president of Citizens Realty and Lincoln Investment, which own River Park Square, challenged Eugster’s assertion. “I can’t think of another major project than is being worked on today that will generate 2,800 jobs and $2.5 million in tax revenue for the city,” she said.

Sloane also disagreed with Eugster’s analysis that alternatives to the plan must be considered by the city.

The city plans to buy the garage in 1999 by issuing about $30 million in bonds and paying them back with revenue generated by the garage. The city would rent the land the garage sits on from River Park Square.

City Councilman Orville Barnes, chairman of the city’s Economic Development Council, said if there’s any question about whether the city has complied with the Environmental Policy Act, extra steps should be taken to ensure all requirements are met.

“I don’t want this thing challenged on whether we’ve fulfilled the (law),” Barnes said.

Some close to the River Park Square project said a lawsuit over the parking garage could endanger the redevelopment.

“Any delay has the real potential of killing this project because Nordstrom will walk,” said Nancy Goodspeed, a spokeswoman for River Park Square.

, DataTimes