An advisory board for a Spokane tax-increment financing district called the West Quadrant hopes to find ways to leverage the roughly $200,000 the district has collected so far and recommend initial revitalization projects in which the city could invest the funds.

The West Quadrant district covers 740 acres surrounding, but not including, the Kendall Yards development northwest of downtown, overlapping three areas known as the West Central, Emerson-Garfield, and Riverside neighborhoods.

A city-appointed five-member West Quadrant TIF advisory board tentatively has prioritized projects in each of the neighborhoods with a total estimated cost of $6.5 million that it likely will recommend to the City Council, says Tobby Hatley, the board's chairman.

"Our job is to identify potential projects, find out which are viable, which are most likely to move forward, and pass along recommendations to City Council," Hatley says.

Hatley, who owns Tobby Hatley & Associates LLC, a Spokane communications consulting firm, represents the Riverside neighborhood on the advisory board. Each of the other two neighborhoods is represented by a member, and two at-large members sit on the board.

While the ultimate goal of the West Quadrant district is to attract private investment, tax-increment revenue can only be used to improve public property, Hatley says.

"The whole idea is to build infrastructure, and other things will follow along," he says.

The estimated project costs far exceed what the TIF could distribute, concedes Andrew Worlock, of the city of Spokane's Business and Development Services Department, who is a technical aide to the board.

"Right now, that's just seed money," he says. "The city hopes to identify grants and other funding sources for which the tax increments can be used as matching funds."

Worlock says it's important to get the projects started early in the 25-year life of the TIF district to accelerate increases in property values and corresponding tax revenue.

Two large projects under consideration would be in the West Central and Emerson-Garfield neighborhoods. Three smaller projects would be in the Riverside neighborhood.

The largest project would span both the West Central and Emerson-Garfield neighborhoods. It would involve six to 10 intersection improvements on the Monroe Street corridor from Boone Avenue north to Cora Avenue, Worlock says.

At an estimated cost of $3 million, the improvements would include street pavement treatment that would help give a visual identity to the area, corner bump-outs that would define parking and calm traffic. It also would include trees, lighting, pedestrian amenities, and underground utilities as needed.

Another West Central neighborhood project would involve streetscape improvements to Broadway Avenue between Ash and Chestnut streets at an estimated cost of $2.5 million, Worlock says. The project would include decorative concrete or paver sidewalks, trees, lighting, permanent street furniture, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, underground utilities, and median construction.

The Riverside neighborhood improvements would include sewer, water, and underground utility improvements on Bridge Avenue at an estimated cost of $500,000, Worlock says. The improvements there also would include streetscape enhancements on Bridge Avenue between Monroe and Post streets, including lighting improvements and street furniture at a cost of $300,000 and improving the Centennial Trail near the Monroe Street Bridge at a cost of $175,000, he says.

In all, the 2007 city ordinance that created the West Quadrant district identifies 14 potential projects valued at a combined total of $15.7 million that could be eligible for tax-increment financing.

Although it's estimated that West Quadrant District's tax-increment revenue will be a minimum of $4.5 million over the life of the TIF, Worlock says, "That number could be much greater. The strategy is to realize property-value growth early in the life of the district."

The city created the West Quadrant district at the same time it approved a tax-increment financing district for the 77-acre Kendall Yards development with the intent to spark economic revitalization by financing public improvements that would in turn encourage private development.

The West Quadrant district includes roughly the area from the Spokane River north to Boone and from the intersection of Boone and Summit Boulevard east to Washington Street. It includes the Monroe Street corridor, extending north to Cora Street, and an area called the Maple-Ash Employment Center, which extends from Boone to Nora Avenue along the Maple-Ash corridor.

The base value of the property within the district in 2008 was $198 million, and this year, the total property value has risen to $228 million. The district started accumulating incremental tax revenue, which doesn't include increases in assessments for fire districts, in 2009. Of the incremental tax revenue, 70 percent is to be used for neighborhood infrastructure improvements and 30 percent is to be used for improvements to the Spokane County government campus, which is in the district.

Worlock says the $30 million increase in property value is significant at a time when properties in other areas of the city decreased in value.

"Kendall Yards moving forward is positive for the area surrounding it," Worlock says.

In the case of Kendall Yards, the developer, an affiliate of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp., is fronting certain infrastructure improvements to be reimbursed by the city under Kendall Yards' own TIF district.

One potential collaborator with the West Quadrant district advisory board is the Downtown Spokane Partnership, a nonprofit that has some economic revitalization goals in common with the West Quadrant district, says Andrew Rolwes, public policy and parking manager for the DSP.

The DSP administers a separate Business Improvement District that covers the downtown core, and includes the Monroe Street corridor as far north as Broadway.

Through assessments on commercial property, the Business Improvement District collects funds that supplement services and capital improvements provided by the city. Supplemental services include maintenance, sanitation, security, promotions, and special events. Capital improvements include street furniture, trees, signage, and special lighting.

The motivation for the assessments, like the West Quadrant District TIF, is to spur economic development.

"I believe the Downtown Spokane Partnership would look for opportunities to partner in projects along the Monroe Street," Rolwes says.

Such collaboration could include combined efforts to seek matching funding from outside organizations and groups, he says.

Rolwes says the DSP has some basic concepts in mind for Monroe Street corridor improvements, although "it will take through 2012 to figure out exactly how we partner with the West Quadrant TIF."

He says it will be up to neighboring businesses to follow the West Quadrant district's lead with private investment.

"We would take a role, but the condition of the economy will play a significant role in how those businesses participate," he says.

Hatley, who also is on the board of directors for the Business Improvement District, says the West Quadrant group hopes to submit its formal recommendations to the city by the end of the year.

"Any recommendations we make go to City Council, and the City Council has final say," he says.