Auto dealers want to overhaul area

Spokane Valley’s car dealers urged the City Council Tuesday to put the pedal to the metal on the way to “Auto Disneyland.”

That’s the dealers’ vision of a future in which the current Auto Row on East Sprague Avenue would become a “Celebration of Transportation.”

It would be a place with lots to see and do, a place where something new is always happening.

It would be a place City Council members would like to go, but some of them didn’t appreciate being told with flashing headlights in their rearview mirrors that they were moving too slowly for the fast lane.

Represented by consultants Bonnie Quinn and Sean Lumsden of Quinn Group Advertising and Marketing, the dealers reminded council members that new-car franchises on East Sprague employ more than 700 people and included four of the city’s top 13 sales tax-generating businesses last year.

When the George Gee dealership moved to Liberty Lake, Spokane Valley lost about $250,000 a year in taxes, the remaining dealers said in a letter to the council.

Quinn and Vic Pestrin, of Hallmark Hyundai, expressed frustration about the pace and priorities of the city’s Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan.

The plan “looks like its going to go in circles,” Quinn said, calling for the Auto Row section of East Sprague to be given top priority. “We have a vision. Let’s move forward on our vision.”

Public officials have said full implementation of their revitalization plan may take decades, but Quinn said auto dealers don’t want to wait 10 or 20 years.

The city’s revitalization plan has drawn public criticism on several issues, particularly its call for restoring two-way traffic on the Sprague-Appleway one-way couplet where the auto dealers are concentrated.

“We want to revitalize Auto Row just the way it is,” Pestrin said. “We don’t care if it’s one-way or two-way or six-way.”

Quinn said the area looks like a “war zone,” and called on the council members to help car dealers transform it.

“If we thrive, you thrive,” she said, echoing the adage that what’s good for General Motors is good for the nation.

She suggested the city might buy the land where dealers hope to develop an entertainment venue. Also, she said the dealers need zoning changes and “maybe a tax incentive.”

“We don’t expect you guys to front it all, but these guys (auto dealers) shouldn’t have to front it all, either,” Quinn said.

Lumsden called for a more accommodating sign code that would allow dealers to comply with the demands of their franchises.

City Councilman Steve Taylor took exception to Quinn’s characterization of the area as a “war zone.”

He said the area has received “significant public investment” that “really cleaned up the area.” The city repaved the street, replaced the sidewalks and put in new curbside landscaping.

“Please give us a little credit for what’s been done,” Taylor said.

As for the plan Quinn laid out Tuesday, he said it would cost a lot and the city has “significant financial constraints.”

City officials also have political constraints, Mayor Rich Munson said.

“We have a significant public image challenge in front of us to make sure that the whole community feels they are being treated fairly, that one sector isn’t being favored over another,” Munson said.

And government can move only so fast.

“I’m afraid government is not like a business,” Munson said. “It’s something that requires a great deal of public input. We’re moving, I think, as fast as we can right now.”

So, he said, “I don’t want to use the word ‘pushy,’ but let’s understand that both sides have significant milestones they have to achieve, and that takes a lot of work.”

Still, Munson and other council members said they liked the auto dealers’ plans for what Quinn likened to “an Auto Disneyland.”

She showed slides of eye-catching “welcome” signs that could be placed at both ends of Auto Row. In between, she suggested, car manufacturers might be persuaded to place “creative monuments” to show off their brands.

Unfortunately, Quinn said, Auto Row currently is home to many of Spokane Valley’s “porn shops.” But the historic theater that houses Deja Vu Showgirls has potential, she said.

“Let’s make it something awesome,” Quinn said. “Let’s turn it into an auto museum.”

She said car dealers want to lure complementary businesses to Auto Row, such as boat, motorcycle and ATV shops – also some “nice restaurants” and “maybe even an Auto Row Hotel.” A Sonic Drive-in and a drive-in theater would be perfect, she said.

Check the Internet, Quinn said: “You’ll see that drive-in theaters are coming back.”

She envisions a multipurpose venue with concerts, car shows and church meetings in between movies. It would be next to an artificial lake surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops, wine shops and other “destination-type places,” Quinn said.

Throw in some car sculptures and other art, add a kids’ park with baby-sitting service, and it would be a “family-friendly” place for people to have a nice dinner and maybe buy a car, Quinn said. It would be “a real energy source” for all of Spokane Valley, she told council members.

Quinn drew inspiration from the “wonderful environment” of the Twigs Bistro South Hill Village at Regal Pond, a collection of shops at 44th and Regal.

She proposed to build the Auto Row version on land between Dishman Dodge and Gus Johnson Ford.

“It will be a catalyst,” she said. “If it’s set up right and the vision is out there, it will be easy to recruit businesses to that area.”