On October 29, Friends of the Falls Executive Director Steve Faust and Board member Travis Nichols went before the Spokane City Council to speak against expanding a tax-incentive program to steeply-sloped areas within the river gorge.
The City’s multifamily tax-exemption program was first adopted in 2000 to spur residential development in under-served or blighted areas, and was first applied to the downtown core and West Central neighborhoods. Since then, the program has been expanded to many areas across the City, including other targeted growth centers, but some say the program is now offered in areas that don’t need the additional incentives. The tax program sets aside property tax increases on multi-family residential developments, typically for eight years or more.
City staff had recommended removing a strip of land from the program including property north of Riverside Avenue and most of the bluff into Peaceful Valley. A proposal before Council sought to increase the size of that area.
Faust noted sections of the Gorge Plan that discourage development in areas included in the proposed boundaries, indicating that at the very least, the City shouldn’t be adding incentives to build in there. The Council at first acted on the advice of staff and removed the existing strip from the program, but later restored the strip, though refusing to add the new lands proposed.
“The program is a valuable tool, but it should be applied sparingly and only where it’s needed,” said Faust. “If anything, we should be using incentives to enhance the Gorge, not diminish it” he said.
Page 4-49 of the plan identifies “all of the north-facing slopes along the south side of the Gorge area from the lower falls to the confluence with Hangman Creek” as areas that should be improved by restoration of native vegetation, adding: “This heavily vegetated steep slope needs to be protected from encroaching large-scale development.”
Spokesman Article (64 Kb, Acrobat® file)
