Designs have now been drafted for the new sidewalks to be installed on Madison and Adams Streets as well as the traffic circles that are planned for Montgomery Ave. They’re provided below for reference.
The projects are going out to bid very soon and the City anticipates completion by late autumn.
The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Planning group hosted a Business Outreach Event on April 17 at CSL Plasma (2126 N Monroe).
This post (and the video below) offers just a brief recap of some of the highlights; to download the full minutes, please click here.
There were 31 attendees in total. Among those speaking at the presentation were Craig Anderson, a Landscape Architect with AHBL; Inga Note, Senior Traffic Planning Engineer within the Streets Department; Jo Anne Wright, the liaison for the City of Spokane Planning Department; Candace Mumm, City Councilwoman for District 3; Jack Strong, with Strong Solutions and the past President of the Spokane Business Association; and Mark Camp, landlord of The Shop (among other businesses and buildings) in the South Perry district.
Some of the neighborhood businesses that were represented included: the Aiki Institute of Spokane, Waffles Plus, Ross’s Memories on Monroe, Azar’s Restaurant, Chairs Coffee, Tossed and Found; Zip’s and Petunia’s Marketplace.
After a brief introduction by Nicole Loncon, Assistant Manager at CSL Plasma, Jo Anne gave an overview of the neighborhood planning process and the relation between the city and the neighborhood committees since 2008.
Megan Kennedy, Vice Chair of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, continued the overview of the planning process. On the basis of regular stakeholder meetings and two workshops with the residents, six priorities emerged. All of those points had N. Monroe in common, therefore this corridor was given its own section in the Neighborhood Plan. These priorities are:
E.J. Iannelli, Chair of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, introduced the possibility of different funding sources, such as the STA, the West Quadrant Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, and Community Development funds. Ideally, a revitalization effort would be able to draw from those pots, in addition to any funding from projects which the City of Spokane might have.
Candace Mumm explained the Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Board (CTAB) money, which funds street improvements, sidewalk improvements, and pedestrian improvements. The CTAB board is the Spokane City Council; the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) committee advises the City Council board, who then makes the final decision on where to focus those funds. She mentioned that having a revitalized business association would strongly contribute towards qualifying as a targeted-area investment.
Inga Note addressed the possibility of converting N. Monroe from a five-lane street into a three-lane alternative. She had previously been with Spokane Valley for eight years, and has experience with performing a “road diet.” Along with the increased space for each lane, more space would be available for street parking, swales, and sidewalks.
Jack Strong continued the three-lane topic by giving an explanation of a similar change to East Sprague and the clear benefits. Mark Kent then spoke about the process that he has been involved with since 1999, to establish a neighborhood business network and go through the procedures for revitalizing his neighborhood.
Craig Anderson walked through the results of the business survey which represented the opinions of business owners on Monroe north of Indiana and south of the Garland District. In general, pedestrian safety was a top priority. Two-thirds of the businesses surveyed expressed an interest in involvement with a business association or being involved in other neighborhood development processes that may affect their business.
Jack explained the importance of setting up a Business Improvement District (BID), and agreeing on a small tax for having a third party take responsibility for the upkeep of the landscaping, rather than relying on every individual business to maintain their allocated section. He also invited the business owners to observe the activities of their Neighborhood Business Center (NBC), which meets at the Kendall Yards Community Room on the first Thursday of every month at 7:30am.
The invitees asked questions on topics such as angled parking and bus stops, which were discussed in further detail.
The Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC) has released the Spokane Regional Road Construction Map for 2014. The map includes all construction projects county-wide that will impact traffic.
This year the map will only be published online and in an interactive format. While that means no more paper maps, it also means you can now access it on your smartphone or other handheld devices. The online format also allows you to zoom in on smaller projects, such as those in your neighborhood, and click on projects to read their descriptions.
The infographic below shows some of the features of the new interactive online map.
To create the Spokane Regional Road Construction Map each year, SRTC staff works with staff at their partner agencies (City of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Spokane County, the Washington State Department of Transportation, Spokane Transit, and small cities and towns) to put all their construction projects that will impact traffic on a single map.
More SRTC map resources are available here.
As another Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting nears, the snow has given way to rain. At least it’s some sort of seasonal progress. And it’s reason enough to join the EGNC on Wednesday, March 12 at 7pm in the Corbin Senior Center (827 W Cleveland) as we begin preparing in earnest for the exciting year ahead.
And that’s not just feel-good inspirational fluff. There really is some exciting stuff going on.
This EGNC meeting brings five guest speakers — all of whom have been limited in advance to ten minutes or less. That means you’ll get your informational fix but it won’t eat up your entire evening. Most of the speakers have agreed to hang around after the meeting so you can pose your questions on an informal, one-on-one basis.
Dom Felix will be talking about the Spokane Police Accountability and Reform Coalition (SPARC). Kim Ferraro will be giving a preview of what’s happening at the West Central Community Center. Buzz Bellessa of North Hill Neighborhood Council will be proposing a developer agreement for the city-owned property on the corner of Cora and N. Monroe. Angel Spell of Spokane Urban Forestry will address everything to do with street trees. And a representative of the Spokane Human Rights Commission will explain what their organization has been up to.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Karen Cornwell of Avista will not be presenting. We hope she’ll be able to reschedule for April’s meeting.
Also on the agenda is the scheduling of mobile speed signs (for traffic-calming analysis), preparation for next month’s EGNC elections, discussion about the proposed Summer Parkways event in Emerson-Garfield, Neighborhood Planning updates, and lots more.
Download the March 12 meeting materials here:
We look forward to seeing you there!
Below is a YouTube movie of the presentation on N. Monroe given by Bob Turner, Senior Traffic Engineer for the City of Spokane, at February’s Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting.
It contains statistics such as average daily vehicle counts and vehicle speed as well as a ten-year retrospective of collisions and pedestrian fatalities. Some of the figures might be surprising, even if they do seem to be at odds with our day-to-day experience on N. Monroe.
Toward the end there’s a list of conclusions that can be drawn (or not) from the available data. Some of the recommendations and concerns tie in to Emerson-Garfield’s current Neighborhood Planning effort.
The individual slides should be fairly self-explanatory. If they aren’t, we can try to address your specific questions in the comments below.