On Monday, the Cheney Planning Commission traveled to Spokane to tour the Kendall Yards development. As the commission gears up to tackle code updates, much of what developer Jason Wheaton said about dealing with the city of Spokane is reminiscent of Cheney's development issues and should be taken as a lesson to avoid future problems with housing and commercial development in the city.
As Wheaton led the group of commissioners and other city officials through a model townhouse overlooking the Spokane River and downtown Spokane, he shared some of the struggles his company, Greenstone Homes, faced to develop the property.
Click to read more from Becky Thomas
Many of Wheaton's struggles were with the city of Spokane's zoning regulations. He said it was difficult to successfully develop affordable townhomes in the area because of restrictive regulations.
Sound familiar? Steve Emtman struggled with the city of Cheney last year to develop townhomes—a housing type that the city's code doesn't even recognize. He had to get a special permit, basically an exemption from the city, to build the attached single-family homes. Now, all of the townhouses they've built so far have been sold.
What happens when a developer doesn't have the time, money or patience to fight the city as Emtman has for years?
“You get what you regulate for,” Wheaton said, pointing to the vast majority of rental housing in Spokane over resident-owned homes. Once again, I can't count how many times I've heard Cheney folks talk about the overabundance of apartments in this community.
Wheaton also talked a lot about ways to attract people to live in the downtown area, and one of the attractions has to be convenient access to services.
“If we want to have people living downtown, we have to have services downtown,” he said.
Cheney can definitely relate to this sentiment, and now that the updated comprehensive plan includes a vision for mixed-use zoning downtown, it's time to update the code before the city's reputation for archaic regulations gets any worse. Steve Emtman has said it and Lancze Douglass has said it, and they actually got their projects started here. How many more regional developers took one look at the code and went to Liberty Lake?
Wheaton talked about the appeal of placing a commercial/retail district east of the Kendall Yards development due to its proximity to the county government complex at Broadway and Monroe. There are over 3,000 employees that show up at that complex every day for work, and they all have to eat lunch and do their grocery shopping.
Commissioner Keith Klauss, an employee at Eastern Washington University, said there were around 3,000 people working at the university every day as well. Quite an opportunity. Everyone in the room nodded and smiled knowingly.
It's one thing to look at the potential in Cheney—university, outdoor recreation, good schools and easy access to Spokane—and it's another to look honestly at the problems the city faces and come up with solutions. It's quite another to sit through endless Planning Commission meetings as city leaders go over every detail of the upcoming code update, where they'll approve regulations for innovative new housing options. It'll be boring at times, but I'll do it anyway, and think about how Cheney's potential can finally be realized.
Some of the old guard Cheneyites might disagree with me. Would you resist new development in town? Would you prefer Cheney to remain small and quiet? Write a letter to the editor and share your opinion.
Reader Comments(0)