development
Ted Teske, vice chair of the Southgate Neighborhood Council, wants the Target expected to open in the area next year to feel more urban.
Inside the Box
Dave Black clashes with neighbors over the vision for a South Hill Target store BY HEIDI GROOVER
F
or developer Dave Black, the empty brown-grasscovered lot at Regal Street and Palouse Highway is filled with promise. “I’ve had people throughout my entire 32-year career say, ‘We need a Target on the South Hill,’” Black says, and he’s finally just months away from building one. “Target’s a big deal. … It’s very, very desirable and hard to get.” But for the group representing people who live in the neighborhood, that vision is a potential nightmare. For years, the Southgate Neighborhood Council has pushed back against big-box development in the neighborhood. Now, representatives say they’re willing to accept Target, but they want it to feel more like something you’d find in Seattle than on North Division; maybe a
smaller parking lot and more on-street parking, or two floors instead of one for a smaller store footprint. Historically, the city of Spokane has seemed to share their caution. In 2005, planners rezoned certain commercial areas to Type 1 Center and Corridor zones, or “CC1,” calling them “pedestrian emphasis/auto accommodating” according to city code, though specifics can vary from project to project. During the zoning changes, the city held meetings “trying to find that balance between commercial and pedestrian-friendly,” says Al French, who was on the City Council at the time. The compromise, detailed in the city’s comprehensive plan, was meant to outline how citizens want Spokane to be planned in the future. In the plan, CC1 areas are described as mixed use areas with
Young Kwak photo
higher density and “streets within the centers and surrounding neighborhoods [that] enable residents to walk or bicycle for their daily service needs.” The city’s new planning director, Scott Chesney, has been vocally supportive of “form-based zoning,” where buildings are designed more around the character of their future neighborhood than simply their use. The idea gives neighborhoods more individual character and allows for more dense infill. “Cities have to grow or they die,” he told The Inlander last year. “Spokane doesn’t grow geographically very fast. It has to grow with intensity of development.” But as Black works through the regulatory steps to get the Target project off the ground, neighborhood advocates fear he’s skirting those standards. He may be following the basic minimums of the city’s zoning laws, they say, but he’s not trying to fulfill the city’s dreams for more innovative development. A smaller Target, or one designed in a more urban way, could set the standard for future development in Spokane, says Ted Teske, vice chair of the Southgate Neighborhood Council and a member of its land use committee. One that mimics the location on the North Side would hold Spokane back. ...continued on next page
APRIL 11, 2013 INLANDER 13