A developer is floating an idea for a project that would link Spokane city- and county-operated drainage systems in a park-like network and provide additional storm-water storage for development on the Moran Prairie.


The idea is being promoted by Black Development, a division of Tomlinson Black Commercial Inc., of Spokane. It hinges on the creation of a storm-water storage pond on a 16-acre site about a block west of Regal Street and just south of 49th Avenue, says Greg Sweeney, owner of Transaction Point Management, a Spokane-based consulting company hired by Black Development to guide the concept through the regulatory process.


The property currently is owned by Spokane Radio Inc., which operates KXLY-AM and other radio stations. Sweeney says the developer would probably build the drainage facility to suit the citys specifications then sell it to the city, with an easement for Spokane Radio to continue to use the transmission towers. The city would recoup any costs through user fees it would charge to developments that drain into the system, he says.


The drainage site is being called Radio Park in a presentation prepared by Sweeney, because two radio transmission towers would remain there if the project proceeds. Under Black Developments proposal, the new storage pond would connect to two 6-acre evaporation ponds the county operates about two blocks south of and uphill from the Spokane Radio property. The drainage ponds are west of Regal and between 53rd and 57th avenues, just outside of the city.


The Radio Park site also would connect to a 20-acre drainage site, called Hazels Creek Regional Drainage and Conservation area, that the city is operating and plans to expand, about six blocks northeast of the Spokane Radio property, just south of Ferris High School. The Hazels Creek site has some runoff storage capability, and it allows significant natural drainage that seeps into the ground.


The Radio Park concept was originally envisioned to provide storm-water storage for two 15-acre parcels that are proposed for commercial development. The parcels are immediately east of the Radio Park site, with one on each side of Regal.


Black Development is seeking an amendment to the citys comprehensive land use plan that would rezone the parcels to include them among the more than 20 designated centers and corridors in the city where mixed-use development activity is focused.


The Moran Prairie area is underserved by commercial development, Sweeney contends.


As part of a network that would include city and county storm-water facilities, Radio Park also would have capacity to serve storm-water needs for further development on Moran Prairie, Sweeney says. One example, he says, is an 18-acre site zoned for mixed use that Black Development wants to develop at the southeast corner of 57th and Palouse Highway.


He says Black Development has been contacted by a development-consulting company that represents the owners of 16 acres of undeveloped land southeast of the ShopKo Stores Inc. outlet at 44th and Regal about potential participation in the proposed storm-water network. At that location, the company, Tulsa, Okla.-based Real Property Development Consultants, has filed a separate application for city-center designation to accommodate a major retailer. Although the retailer isnt identified in the application, that company is working with the big Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. retail chain on locating stores in Richland and Port Orchard.


W&H Pacific Inc., an engineering consultant, is working for Black Development on the Radio Park concept, says Norma Samis, Spokane operations manager for that Bothell, Wash.-based company.


Samis says developers currently have to dedicate 20 percent to 30 percent of the Moran Prairie land they develop for storm-water storage.


If they had access to off-site storm-water-treatment facilities, they could use that space for other purposes, she says.


At this point there are no cost estimates or time line for construction of the Radio Park proposal, she says. Its also undetermined who would pay for it.


She says the Radio Park pond would have a storage capacity of about 100 acre-feet, which is roughly five times the capacity of the countys evaporation ponds. An acre-foot of water needed to covers one acre of land to a depth of one foot.


W&H Pacific also has been contracted by the city to study the capacity of the envisioned expansion of storm-water handling at the Hazels Creek area, which currently has one storage pond and drains some storm water underground.


The study, which will be completed this summer, will help determine if the Hazels Creek capacity exceeds the citys needs and how much storm water could be piped there from other sources.


Leroy Eadie, the citys acting planning director, says Black Developments idea of linking a proposed storm-water pond at the Radio Park site with nearby city and county drainage facilities makes sense.


Under the concept, water would be stored at Radio Park as needed then piped to the Hazels Creek area and allowed to seep into the ground.


He says Black Developments application for the city center designations hasnt gone before the city planning commission yet, but could do so as early as August, and the commissions recommendations on it could go before the City Council in late August or September.


Of the proposed city-center designation, he says, Its meant to promote growth of neighborhoods with mixed uses, so residents dont have to drive out of the neighborhood to take care of all their needs.


City and county ordinances require that new development on the Moran Prairie and Five Mile Prairie, which is on the northwest outskirts of town, handle storm-water runoff on-site due to a history of drainage problems.


Yet, Sweeney contends, An evaporative pond is the lowest and worst possible use of developable land. You only need it four or five times a year.


As an alternative, a system that connects storm-water systems could be used for regional drainage, wetlands restoration, pedestrian access, and education, Sweeney says.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.