Returning to earlier zoning won’t save Sprague Avenue

The Spokane Valley City Council is about to start dismantling the Sprague Avenue Revitalization Plan. That is their privilege.

What they plan to do to stop the steady deterioration of the main street of our city is a question that must be answered. Sprague Avenue is dying. That means property values are falling, vacancy rates are far too high and businesses are failing.

Some would say all this is because we are in recession. Obviously, the recession has had a negative impact on our city and our businesses. However, this trend has been in place 10 years. From 2000 until today, we have seen a complete economic cycle of recession, growth and recession. Throughout this period, Sprague Avenue has suffered falling property values, vacancy rates that are far too high and failing businesses.

To assume that if we go back to an earlier zoning code (before 2003), as has been suggested by some councilmembers, reminds me of the classic definition of madness. If you do the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome, then you are exhibiting all the traits of madness.

The changes suggested by Councilmembers Dean Grafos and Brenda Grassel and Sen. Bob McCaslin are nothing more than doing the same thing over and over again. They must come up with an innovative plan that will allow the businesses and property owners on Sprague to reverse the negative growth that has strangled business on Sprague.

Sprague Avenue is dying.

Business properties along the street account for 40 percent of all business space in Spokane Valley, but account for 60 percent of the business vacancies in the city. There is something wrong with this picture!

City government must provide an environment that will address and correct this situation. It is up to the private sector to make the changes within the context of the environment (called zoning) the city provides. That is simply the way government at the city level works. Otherwise, we will see the chaos and economic distress we now see on Sprague Avenue.

Developers, business owners and property owners cannot plan and act until they know what the rules will be. Right now they have no idea what the City Council has in mind, and the uncertainty is adding to problems on Sprague. If the City Council wants to change the Sprague Appleway Revitalization Plan, they have a number of choices. They can deal with zoning laws in a way that will relax some of the more restrictive requirements. Hopefully they will recognize the economic reality that even though our population is just under 90,000 people, there is too much retail space on Sprague Avenue.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to encourage a zoning plan that will allow high tech, bio-science and light industries to be established on Sprague? A plan that makes sense is an absolute requirement if we are to no longer say, Sprague Avenue is dying.