North Greenacres Neighborhood

Sprague Appleway Revitalization Plan Public Comments

april 28, 2009 Comments Delivered to City Council Center Place

April 28 2009

TOPIC: Public Comments on Sprague/Appleway Corridor

Growth Management is not an open mandate to recreate the business district and the life of the citizens. Neither is it intended to stifle competition. In fact, growth management is concerned about job protection. Please remember that while this is an interesting intellectual game for you, your life savings are not invested, but ours, the citizens. It will be our taxes. I have not found one person in our area that thought this was a good idea. It’s like paying for the creation of a symphony for a community that only likes Blue Grass music. Your not playing to your audience. Other than the few who benefit from this plan, namely Auto-Row and the University City imagined complex, it has put business in the tight fist of the inflexible regulations that have been contrived to discourage the continuance of the existing businesses on Sprague. It is their pocket book that will be uncompensated. This is nothing short of environmental psychosis. Wouldn’t this be violating Anti-Trust Laws. The Sherman Act? I believe the state is still subject to not violating these laws.


1. Do not extend Appleway beyond the University.

2. Keep 7 lanes from Evergreen to Sullivan
Reducing traffic lanes will create failed traffic flow at intersections. There is not the ability to create more east/west roads due to the topographic limitations of the Valley.
Broadway, Sprague and Trent, as well as I-90 are the primary roads that can be utilized to get to the downtown area or to travel east.

During any I-90 road construction or accident, traffic must flow on these alternative roads and going downtown to hospitals or
offices. Sprague and Broadway are the only viable choices.

Snow conditions will eliminate one lane of traffic that we are all familiar with this last winter.

3. During the severe economic downturn, the downzoning of
properties and the elimination of commercial zoning designations will create a tax revenue deficit.
Instead, of stimulating the economy – you will be destroying it.

Please note the illogical notion that these businesses need to do a different type of business – that they have lots of other options. Their investment and training that makes their businesses an asset they can sell to another is expressly due to the fact that this is their area of expertise. Re-inventing the wheel is costly and creates losses.

4. The cost of these changes are largely being asked to be borne by the business community.
5. The City Council should be striving to expand their lists of business opportunities to provide every possible ability of businesses to continue their jobs without government intrusion.

I object to the misinformation that this was a mandate from the community.
Please note: The very first comprehensive plan community process had to include three ways to organize the City. Only one of those options were every fleshed out and explained. It was the City Center option. The City provided a picture of a re-invention of University City without the permission of the property owner – who actually balked at the idea after it had been paraded as part of the comprehensive plan process. This was an inappropriate use of someone else property.

I also heard that Center Place area is not considered for the City Center because we didn’t want another River Front Square scandal with the Cowles family. Instead the City went into arrangements with
The Magnuson properties after he later decided to play along with the City’s scheme.

6. The Freeman Consultants Group stated that the City Center needed to be by a freeway entrance. It is not and it is an inconvenient place for most people to travel to that don’t live in that neighborhood.

7. Please consider that the Valley Mall has filed bankruptcy. Why would this new shopping area succeed in such dire economic times.

We absolutely oppose continuing the City Center concept beyond University and Sprague. We oppose extending the couplet as you have already frozen people’s assets to sell their properties for any other use by going to the courts.

This is a heavy handed use of City authority through manipulation of a public process to come to a predefined conclusion.
Sincerely,




Mary Pollard
North Greenacres Chairwoman
17216 E. Baldwin Ave.
Greenacres, WA (aka Spokane Valley) 99016