The city of Spokane Valley expects to decide in coming months whether to move forward with consultants suggestions for stemming the loss of businesses along the Sprague-Appleway corridor, or whether those recommendations involve a big step backward.


The citys land-use and transportation consultants, Freedman Tung & Bottomley, of San Francisco, and Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, of Orlando, Fla., have recommended turning the 2.5 mile Sprague-Appleway couplet back into two-way streets. They also propose extending Appleway Boulevard about three miles to the east from its terminus at University Road, and creating a city-center district that would include the University City mall and land just east of it, says Scott Kuhta, the citys senior planner.


Some business owners along the corridor long have called for a return to two-way traffic on Sprague Avenue. Others, however, say theyve adapted to the couplet. Some just want a decision and action as quickly as possible to provide some degree of certainty that would encourage investment in commercial property improvements.


AutoRow, a group of six Spokane Valley auto dealers, has adjusted to the couplet as it is, says Bonnie Quinn, account supervisor at Quinn Group, the Spokane advertising and public relations firm that represents the group. Quinn says Auto Row hasnt taken an official position on the couplet decision except that any action should be done sooner, rather than later.


To say you are going to do it in 10 or 20 years is the absolute worst thing to do, Quinn says. Under that scenario, attracting private investment to Auto Row will be nearly impossible, she says.


The revitalization plan recommended by the consultants calls for land-use goals that encourage a blend of retail, office, and residential uses along the Sprague-Appleway corridor, which since 2001 has been a one-way couplet. In the couplet, traffic flows west on Sprague and east on Appleway between Interstate 90s Sprague exit and University Road, where Appleway terminates.


Under the land uses proposed, Appleway and Sprague would be narrowed and made more pedestrian friendly, with wide sidewalks and landscaping, Kuhta says.


The proposal is before the Spokane Valley Planning Commission, which was slated to conclude a public hearing on it today, March 20, and make a recommendation to the City Council by mid-May.


The cost of implementing the transportation portion of the revitalization plan is estimated to be nearly $40 million over 20 years. Khuta says most of that cost would go toward extending Appleway to the east to Sullivan Road.


The original construction of the couplet was paid for in part with $10 million in state funds. In addition, the state Department of Transportation reconfigured the Sprague interchange, including the crossover road that routes eastbound Sprague traffic onto Appleway.


Jerry Lenzi, WDOTs chief engineer, says hes heard of the recommendation to change the couplet to a pair of two-way streets, but that the department hasnt been approached by the city about it.


Lenzi who was WDOTs regional engineer in Spokane during construction of the couplet, says the department was nearing completion of a reconfiguration design for the Sprague interchange based on Sprague being a two-way street, when it was asked by Spokane County to change the design, allowing for Sprague to be a one-way street east of the interchange. The city of Spokane Valley was incorporated in 2003, after the couplet opened.


If you want to change it into a two-way all the way, thats a whole different conversation, he says. Frankly theres nothing in the budget to do that.


The I-90 interchange at Sprague would have to be reconfigured again if Sprague is to be made into a two-way street all of the way to the interchange, Lenzi says. It may be difficult for the department to obtain federal transportation funding for such a change of direction, he says.


I cant think of anything weve done on a permanent basis that weve said, Whoops, that was a bad deal. Lets go back and do it all over again, he says.


Dick Behm, owner of Behms Valley Creamery, says small-business owners believe theyve been hurt financially by the couplet and need such a do-over.


They want to see it go back to a two-way, Behm says. For them, it cant happen fast enough.


Dave Hall, part owner of Mustard Seed Management Co., says the couplet played a significant role in that companys decision to sell its Spokane Valley Mustard Seed outlet to WinCo Foods Inc., which also bought the adjacent former HomeBase site for a supermarket site.


The couplet definitely affected us, Hall says. We lost 15 percent of our business the day it opened, and it never really came back. We just finally decided to try to find a spot with more traffic and maybe some entertainment and shopping.


He says he supports the idea of changing Sprague back to a two-way street.


I think it will help the people out there, he says.


Gus Johnson, owner of Gus Johnson Ford, at 8300 E. Sprague, and a member of the AutoRow group, says public support for the couplet might be underestimated.


The couplet is doing what it was designed to do: Get traffic off the freeway and moving through Spokane Valley, he says.


Johnson says some AutoRow members who are on the north side of Sprague and dont have direct access to and from Appleway, probably prefer that Sprague be a two-way street. Most AutoRow members agree, however, that keeping the couplet would be better than the uncertainty of plans that would call for change in a decade or two.


As long as the Sprague thing is up in the air, were not going to get anyone to invest in building here until somebody makes a decision on what way the road is going to go, he says.


Johnson says he would prefer that scarce resources be used to clean up the area, rather than revert it to the way it was.


From a business aspect, taxpayers money has already been spent, he says. To turn it back into a two-way street is a waste of money.


Gus Johnson Ford, Dishman Dodge, Spokane Chrysler, and the Appleway Automotive Group have positioned themselves so they have visible frontage on both Appleway and Sprague.


Although Spokane Valley has seen strong retail and commercial growth along Indiana Avenue, Sullivan Road, and other parts of the city, the Valley still has the highest retail vacancy rate in the Spokane area, according to a fall market survey compiled by the Spokane appraisal firm Auble, Jolicoeur & Gentry, with participation from Kiemle & Hagood Co., Goodale & Barbieri Co., and NAI Black.


The retail vacancy rate in the Valley was 13.68 percent, as of October, the survey says. Spokanes downtown core area, by comparison, had a retail vacancy rate of 6.89 percent.


Scott Auble, president of Auble Jolicoeur & Gentry, says theres not enough data in the survey to determine whether the vacancy rate is higher along the portion of Sprague thats within the couplet compared with Sprague outside of the couplet.


Even if the vacancy rate were highest along the couplet, that could have as much to do with the age of the neighborhoods there as it has to do with the direction of traffic.


There might be no single reason for vacancies along Sprague, he says.


A city center or a destination business like WinCo Foods might spark other business investments in the corridor, he says. WinCo hasnt announced yet when it plans to open its Valley supermarket.


Dr. Philip Rudy, a Spokane Valley dentist and chairman-elect of the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, has been a longtime advocate of making the corridor more pedestrian friendly and attractive to businesses and supports returning the streets to two-way traffic.


It will make the area more family friendly and business friendly, he says of the revitalization plan. If its friendly to both, its good for the economy of Spokane Valley.


Rudy says the revitalization plan would reduce driving trips by neighborhood residents and support the development of a mass-transit system.


If the traffic emphasis for the couplet is as a commuter corridor, and businesses continue to leave Sprague, it likely will attract crime, he says.


Kuhta says the plan, if approved, would be implemented in phases, beginning with the city center. The city center, which would include a City Hall building, would be along the couplet between Walnut and Bowdish roads.


If the city center proves successful in attracting mixed-use development, other phases of improvement would be implemented over time, he says.


Kuhta says that converting segments of Sprague and Appleway back to two-way could be phased in, beginning with the portions between Dishman-Mica Road and University.


He says the proposed changes would be compatible with goals of the transportation plan developed by the Spokane Regional Transportation Commission.


The planning commission saw a big turnout by opponents of the couplet proposal at a public hearing last week that was continued until today. About 150 people crowded into the meeting, dozens of whom testified against changing the couplet, and many said they want to see the one-way couplet extended to Sullivan.


Among them is Ann Ohler, a longtime Spokane Valley resident, who says she doesnt like the idea of narrowing the roadways or slowing traffic on Sprague and Appleway. Changing Sprague back to a two-way street would be a step backwards, Ohler says.


Im all for revitalizing University City, but dont tear up what we paid good money to build, she says.


Kuhta says hundreds of people participated in earlier workshops, and supported the transportation concepts that developed into the recommendations.


It comes down to one question, he says. Do we want another freeway through Spokane Valley, or do we want revitalization?


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