Plan commission advances Excelsior wellness development agreement to hearing after staff workshop

The Spokane Plan Commission voted July 9 to advance a draft development agreement for the Excelsior wellness project to a public hearing after a detailed staff workshop and questions from commissioners and members of the applicant team. The workshop covered draft terms the city and applicant are still negotiating, including a schematic site plan, circulation and access on Indian Trail, water and wastewater needs, cultural-resource surveys for undisturbed areas and a list of prohibited uses.

The agreement responds to a condition in ordinance C-36613 that accompanied the commission and council approval of a comprehensive plan amendment. Kevin Fred, city planning staff, told commissioners this development agreement is a “contract that we're negotiating” and emphasized that the commission was not relitigating the comprehensive plan amendment previously approved by city council: “We're not relitigating the comprehensive plan amendment. It's approved. This is a condition of that amendment.”

Commissioners focused on several technical areas that staff said would be addressed in the development agreement or later during permit review. Staff said the agreement will require a schematic site plan showing likely locations for multifamily, single-family and any community-business uses; a circulation plan showing primary access on Indian Trail and potential internal connections; a trip-generation letter for the whole development; a water-demand analysis; and a cultural-resources survey for undisturbed portions of the site. Fred said Integrated Capital Management (ICM) asked that the whole development be analyzed up front so impacts are assessed cumulatively rather than in incremental pieces.

Commissioners and staff discussed building height and transitions to adjacent single-family neighborhoods. Fred said the RMF zone applicable to most of the site has a default height of 55 feet while adjacent zones are generally 40 feet, and he noted code transition standards that require a stepped height transition where multifamily zones meet lower-density zones: "We do not measure height at the property line. We measure it as the average of the grade within the walls of the building," he said, adding that code also applies a 2:1 slope transition standard at zone edges.

Public-comment materials and agency comments prompted several clarifications during the workshop. Fred said the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation requested a cultural-resources survey before disturbance in undisturbed areas and that the applicant had been engaging tribal partners. On water, the city water department and ICM indicated a possibility of a new water tower on city-owned property above the site or a piped corridor through the development; staff said those are possibilities to be studied rather than commitments.

Applicants signaled willingness to expedite review. Anthony Chang of Millennium Northwest, representing Excelsior, said the draft development-agreement terms are "not a huge lift" to review and described the document as short, and Mike Zannikar of Excelsior added that tenant and community service opportunities are dependent on advancing the agreement. Chang said staff had signaled the “boilerplate” city contract language would be standard and that the substantive terms are what commissioners would need to review.

After discussion about timing and the need for commissioners to receive materials early enough to review, the commission took a voice vote to move the Excelsior Wellness development agreement to a hearing; the motion passed by voice vote. Fred said staff will prepare a staff report with the draft agreement language, responses to comments, and the specific requirements identified in the ordinance and workshop, and indicated August 13 was a tentative hearing date if final details can be completed in time.

What the action does and does not do: the commission's vote moves the draft agreement to a formal public hearing and does not itself adopt the agreement. Fred reminded commissioners that the document will remain negotiable through the hearing phase and that final approval rests with city council. Fred said the development agreement will attach to the property and travel with it if ownership changes, and any significant deviation from the approved scope would prompt further analysis or a new approval process.

Next steps include finalizing draft language with the applicant, producing the staff report and making the draft materials available in the agenda packet before the hearing so commissioners and the public can review the requirements and proposed restrictions. Staff and the applicant told commissioners they will continue to coordinate on site-plan specifics, traffic and water analyses, cultural-resource surveys and any required easements or dedications that emerge from technical studies.

Ending: The commission scheduled a hearing slot tentatively for Aug. 13 if staff and the applicant can complete the draft language in time; otherwise staff said the item would move to the September hearing calendar. The commission and applicant agreed to share draft materials in advance so commissioners can review them before the public hearing.