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West Central neighborhood readied for pedestrian, bike and safety projects using TIF funds
Summary
Consultants presented a prioritized project list and anti‑displacement approach for West Central infrastructure funded by a longstanding Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district; commissioners were told the TIF balance is roughly $2 million with about $200,000 annual growth and that top projects will advance to 100% design.
The Spokane Planning Commission on Jan. 8 received a presentation on the West Central infrastructure project, a neighborhood‑led program that would use tax‑increment financing to fund pedestrian, bicycle and safety projects and prepare construction‑ready designs for priority items.
Wendy Wilbur of Kittleson Associates, the consultant selected with neighborhood participation, described the work as a mix of connectivity, traffic‑calming and small‑scale streetscape projects intended to support local businesses and encourage appropriate private investment. The tax increment finance district covering West Central was established in 2007; staff said the TIF currently holds about $2,000,000 and has been growing by roughly $200,000 a year.
Why it matters: West Central borders the Kendall Yards redevelopment area, and presenters said that as public investment makes the neighborhood safer and more accessible it may accelerate private development and raise property values. The project team included an explicit anti‑displacement analysis and recommended measures to preserve affordable housing and small, locally owned businesses as improvements proceed.
Key presentation points: - Project goals and selection: consultants and neighborhood representatives inventoried earlier TIF projects, updated the project list through intensive community outreach (cleanup day, PorchFest and neighborhood meetings) and scored projects for safety, connectivity, economic impact and constructability. Top candidates include the Elm and Chestnut greenways, raised crossings to the Centennial Trail, bike lanes on Broadway and improvements that slow traffic on Boone, Dean and Nettleton. - Economic evidence: Wilbur summarized academic and local interviews indicating that multimodal infrastructure and high‑quality transit tend not to reduce sales tax or property values, and often increase pedestrian traffic and property values once construction is complete. Local developers were interviewed to ground conclusions in Spokane market conditions. - Anti‑displacement: consultants presented displacement‑risk data showing pressure from Kendall Yards nearby. Presenters noted a large local shift in household income around Kendall Yards (the team cited a median household income figure moving from about $36,000 in 2012 to about $96,000 in 2022 in proximate areas), and recommended both preservation strategies and increased production of affordable housing as part of a neighborhood strategy. - Design and constraints: the team emphasized staying within the public right‑of‑way where possible to stretch TIF dollars, and highlighted storm‑sewer constraints as a key technical limit to some projects.
Commissioners asked about including surface parking lots among candidate opportunity sites; consultants agreed to revisit mapping to ensure underutilized lots were captured as potential redevelopment sites. Wilbur said the team will produce cost estimates and take the top projects to 100% design for construction readiness; the neighborhood project committee will consider funding requests for construction in a future phase.
Next steps: the project team will complete cost estimates, prioritize projects for 100% design and bring funding requests to the neighborhood project impact committee. The commission was told that some projects align with other city and federal grants, including Safe Streets funding and STA corridor work.
