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City launches Fifth Avenue subarea plan focusing on East Central reconnection and housing
Summary
Planning Services presented an update on a new Fifth Avenue Community Plan for East Central Spokane, funded with ARPA dollars; engagement and topic papers are underway and staff aim to present a draft plan for public comment ahead of a council review next summer.
Maren Murphy of Planning Services updated the Urban Experience Committee on a newly launched Fifth Avenue Community Plan, a subarea planning effort focused on the corridor and surrounding neighborhoods in East Central Spokane.
Murphy said the study area centers on Fifth Avenue from south of the freeway up to the bluff and includes connections among Liberty Park, Underhill Park and Francis Scott Elementary. She said the effort builds on prior work including the Fifth Avenue initiative (2019 and 2021), partnerships with Smart Growth America and a November EPA Rethinking Highways pilot.
"We're drawing a lot of inspiration from the Ave initiative," Murphy said, and added the plan will pick up streetscape, housing, zoning and land-use work. She said the project is funded through ARPA and that staff and a consultant team led by Save a Workshop are producing a community profile and six topic papers on walkability, homeownership, community identity, community wealth, reconnection and restoration of land adjacent to the freeway.
Murphy said early engagement has included interviews, small-group conversations and a community working group that meets monthly. She highlighted outreach at Francis Scott Elementary's April Multicultural Arts Gala and said the draft plan will undergo summer and fall engagement with the goal of returning the plan to council next summer to meet the ARPA expenditure deadline of Dec. 2026.
Committee members asked about "community wealth" and whether the term implied common ownership models. Murphy said the topic paper is still being developed and that initial emphasis is on homeownership, commercial opportunity recovery after freeway development, and examining parcel ownership to identify locally controlled opportunities. She emphasized tactical urbanism and small, quick-build actions as possible near-term steps.
No committee action was taken; staff will continue engagement and report back as draft materials become available.
