Not long ago, area leaders recognized the importance of a proactive revitalization of Spokane’s fading downtown. To many observers, downtown Spokane was representative of not only the region’s soft economy but also its depressed opinion of itself. Beyond buildings and infrastructure were years of employment loss and the “brain drain” that saw so much of the region’s talent flee to Seattle and Portland.

In the mid-‘90s, what may now be recognized as a near panacea of an idea – reinvigorating our region by first focusing energies on the rejuvenation of downtown Spokane – started to come to pay off.

As our community sees evidence of meaningful growth, anti-development neighborhood groups and seemingly lethargic city leadership are starting to impede this positive change. Though in the past, neighborhoods and the city have had reason to protest poor development, recent efforts have been made to block projects that are community-oriented and well- thought-out. Within the last year, a number of these community-oriented developments have come to the table and subsequently been shot down, encouraging developers to abandon projects for greener pastures – pastures largely outside Spokane. Allowing city staffers and overzealous neighborhoods to establish the framework for the city’s future development is a dangerous idea.

Last year, a 10-story condominium project was proposed for Sunset Hills. This development would have offered a new view of downtown and filled in a site that otherwise likely would become one of Spokane’s typical low-quality apartment developments. After months of wrangling with the neighborhood – and no appreciable help from the city – plans were scrapped and the property sold.

Mick McDowell’s current condo project on Riverside has been blasted as an intrusion into the Peaceful Valley neighborhood. A recent opinion piece in The Spokesman-Review claimed that the project would destroy Peaceful Valley. Fortunately, this well-designed project will prove the naysayers wrong.

Though Peaceful Valley’s defenders deserve the right to offer input, so does the pro-development Riverside neighborhood whose boundaries actually include this site. Hopefully progress will trump stagnation; the answer will be revealed when the hearing examiner issues his ruling early next month.

The Kendall Yards project, already well into development, is at risk of being lost. Last-ditch efforts by neighbors, and a lack of commitment by the city to push the project through, are impeding the developer’s ability to quickly complete the all-too-important community-oriented project. Just as the hazardous cleanup was completed, cynics were fast at work claiming the development would destroy the site’s “fragile” environment. How quickly they forgot that the site was used for nearly a century as a railroad repair facility and a dump site for toxic materials. The developer spent millions to remove a century of neglect and to return the site to an inhabitable condition.

Fear of new development does not give the community an excuse to shy away from change. Change is inevitable. The fact that neighborhoods might be impacted is a reality that we all need to understand – and ultimately embrace. Deflecting bad projects and embracing good ones need to be accomplished by understanding the economics behind development and forgoing the mind-numbing simplicity of developing low-quality, low-density projects that merely fit within the confines of 1950s-style planning and zoning regulations.

Developing real estate is expensive and risky. Due to low margins and unique Spokane challenges like those mentioned above, many developers have simply moved on to projects in Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Phoenix. Those who remain invest because they believe in our community.

Local government needs to be flexible, nimble and interested in helping get things done. It can’t simply ask neighbors for opinions and create law. Our citizenry needs to understand how development works and how it can positively affect our community. Our current system outright allows multi-acre, wetland-engulfing Wal-Martesque projects while throwing zoning restrictions, height limits, multiple neighborhood hearings, land use regulations and a myriad of other hurdles in front of high-density, well-designed projects that are inspirational, attractive, creative and – heaven forbid – better for the environment.

Our community deserves projects of high quality and high aesthetic value. To accomplish this in a low-margin community, developers need the support of both local government and neighborhood groups. Developments are often communitywide efforts that require massive risk and extensive cooperation from all stakeholders – including the voices of support that are often not heard in the current system.

We need to marry neighborhood and sensible city planning on the one hand with economics and high-quality projects on the other. Indeed, this is the only way we will ever see positive changes in our business climate and ultimately create higher standards for development in our community.