SPOKANE VALLEY BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

It’s YOUR city… and you should be proud!

COMMENTARY

"The Valley Loses Two Leaders"

January 3rd, 2011

            It is with deep sadness I have to report our friend, Richard Munson, former Mayor of the City of Spokane Valley passed away today. Rich was a dedicated public servant who contributed immensely to the well being of the city of Spokane Valley. We shall miss his leadership and enthusiasm for his city of the valley. He served his country in the USAF and retired a Lt. Colonel at Fairchild.

          A memorial service for Rich Munson will be this coming Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 10:30 AM at Centerplace. On behalf of his many friends in the Spokane Valley Business Association our thoughts and condolences go to his family.

December 6th, 2010

             Today we learned of the passing of one of our own, Milt Neumann, truly a giant in small business. He was my friend, who never failed to introduce himself as “Milt Neumann, CEO of A to Z rentals”. He was much more than that. Milt was a friend of Spokane Valley and small business everywhere. For many years Milt was very active with the Spokane Valley Business Association and served on its board. A strong advocate for issues important to Spokane Valley, Milt was a tireless supporter of incorporating the city of Spokane Valley.

           Milt Neumann learned early on to work hard and pay attention to detail. He grew his small business in to a very large, successful enterprise. My earliest recollection is meeting Milt in his shop tinkering with his two cycle equipment.

            He very quietly did outstanding work supporting small business and many community charities. While keeping a low profile, he was always there when a hand up was needed. His leadership was instrumental in founding the rental association lobbying effort. He was tireless in this endeavor both in state and nationally.

           Today the Spokane Valley has lost a giant; we have all lost a friend…

Terry Lynch
R. Terry Lynch, President SVBA 2010

January 13, 2011

The City Council is about to trade our city center for a used car lot. On January 18^th the City Council will vote on an emergency amendment to eliminate our designated city center.   The designated city center is part of the Comprehensive Plan, a 20 year plan that was passed by the City Council in October of 2009. That plan came about as a result of over 80 workshops, neighborhood meetings, studies, surveys and public hearings held during 2003-2009 in which the citizens of Spokane Valley consistently said they wanted a city center in order to establish an identity for our city.

Several members of the current Council came on board with a pocket agenda that included rolling back any parts of the plan already enacted, stopping any further actions and in general repeal the plan. Those members began to claim mere months after the plan’s passage, and without the benefit of a single poll, workshop, survey or neighborhood meeting, that the plan is a failure and not what the citizens want. Now those members have seized on an opportunity to advance their pocket agenda by responding to a request from one of their campaign contributors. The campaign contributor owns land within the designated city center and wants to sell a portion of it to a used car dealer. Since used car lots are prohibited in the city center the campaign contributor requested the City Council‘s help.

The council members indebted to the contributor are seeking to pass an emergency amendment to the plan that will eliminate the city center designation and change the area’s zoning to one that will allow used car sales. Those member even when presented with a viable alternative, that would allow the contributor to sell his land and Spokane Valley to maintain a city center, rejected the alternative flat out, no discussion, no debate. They assert the City Center designation is hurting people, hence the need for an emergency amendment. To date the Council has not presented any facts or data to support their claim for an emergency amendment nor have they provided any evidence, anecdotal or concrete to support their assertions that the designation is hurting people.

Further the City Council without discussing the Planning Commission’s finding is rejecting its recommendation to deny the ordinance. The Planning Commission found after a public hearing (1) the amendment was processed too quickly and without sufficient public input, (2) there wasn’t sufficient statistical information or survey of the community to gauge citizen support, (3) the City Center provides guidance and stability for future economic development, (4) that a City Center is necessary for the long term viability of Spokane Valley, (5) and it is not in the public interest to move forward without a plan to implement a city center.

We the citizens of Spokane Valley cannot allow those members who serve special interests to dominate the City Council and disregard our wishes. If the council will not ask us what we want, then we have to tell the council in no uncertain terms what we want. I would encourage every citizen to attend and speak at the council meeting, write a letter, send an email, make a phone call, or send a fax, just do whatever you can to voice your opinion and protect your rights to have the city you want. Do you want a used car lot or a city center?

Mr. John Carroll, Chair
Spokane Valley Planning Commission
SVBA MEMBER

October 19, 2010

Honorable Mayor Tom Towey
       & Council Members
City of Spokane Valley
11707 East Sprague Avenue, Suite 106
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206

Dear Mr. Mayor and Council Members,

On behalf of the SPOKANE VALLEY BUSINESS ASSOCIATION we respectfully request the council consider the following on behalf of the small businesses in the city of Spokane Valley:

SPRAGUE AVENUE be returned to a two way avenue. As it is currently configured it is essentially a funnel rushing potential valley customers in to the city of Spokane with little chance to shop or do business along the avenue. Retail depends on two way traffic.

We support the revitalization of both Sprague and Appleway by SARP or some other means. This area has the highest retail vacancy of any area in Spokane County and as a result property values are decreasing and businesses are exiting the corridor. When they move out of the city of Spokane Valley, this impacts tax revenue causing hardship on citizens and businesses; fewer firms mean higher taxes to support services. Also, valley jobs are lost just when we need more employment.

We support the location of the new City Center and new city Hall along Sprague Avenue where there is a developable area of sufficient size to encourage development along the corridor. When citizens were asked in many meetings where they felt the center should be, the majority expressed the U city area was their preference, we concur. It is historically the heart of the city.

Please give these recommendations serious consideration. We encourage a healthy economy, vibrant retail revitalization and the growth of jobs.   We believe these suggestions will help achieve these goals.

My personal regards,
Terry
R. Terry Lynch
President 2010

October 15, 2008

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE
CITY OF SPOKANE VALLEY TAXPAYERS

The recent advertisement by a group of unhappy people, misinformed readers on some very important issues:

Of the $41M figure quoted $26M is just for the proposed extension of Appleway east of University. Traditionally 80% of the funding for roads/arterials is paid by state and federal grants. This is a 20 year plan and the additional 20% to be paid over that time is about $400K a year and much of that cost will be paid back by developers. There has never been any intention to raise taxes to pay for the revitalization plan. To suggest there is such a plan is to read the
mind of future councilmember’s.

Revitalization is a must for Sprague Avenue. Due to many factors, the loss of property value and business lessees is due to the change to a one way street. It was County Government prior to Spokane Valley incorporation using out of date modeling that misdirected this effort.

Zone Downsizing is not an appropriate term – zoning will permit new uses of the property. Experts advise there will be increased property value and commensurate property tax collections relieving residential taxes. We need to ask it is not a worthy goal to increase the value of land along Sprague Avenue?

There have been no zone changes yet; all concerns or problems need to be taken to planning and the council. An effort to scare property owners with change is not fruitful for the community. A very large number of hearings have already been held to discuss the effort.

A revitalized Sprague Avenue establishing a city center is considered important by most everyone that took the time to participate in the many hearings. It is one of the critical charges for a new city to establish a city center.

To those opposed to the plan we can only ask: What alternative do you suggest to improve the health and viability of Sprague Avenue?

The anti-group suggests there should be “economic incentives” for changes; in the state of Washington this is not legal. Gifting is illegal, however after the plan is in place some incentives such as Tax Increment Financing or others can be sought.

The traffic problem is being discussed by citizens and council members working on a twenty year plan. The three options are: all one way; all two way or some hybrid of the two. No decision has been made; any change will have to be financed by grants.

When a city hall has been designed, a financial plan will be developed to pay for it. At the time of incorporation the City Council wisely set up a reserve fund for a future city hall, at this time the city has $6M in that account, while it continues to pay rent of $438,000.00 per year. Why should the City continue to pay rent when they could build and own their City Hall and over time save taxpayers money.

The Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Valley Business Association after a great deal of discussion have endorsed the plans’ concepts. We believe a healthy business community encourages a healthy residential community.

June 1, 2008

The SVBA's committee on Planning has proposed to the City of Spokane Valley some important changes to the "footprint" and allowances for set backs on property re-development.

It is hoped the City of Spokane Valley will give full attention to this committee's report which reflects several years of study of this issue.

We believe it is important to encourage re-development and upgrades and not to discourage needed improvements in the city of Spokane Valley's commercial stock.

My personal regards,

Terry

R. Terry Lynch
President 2010