News Roundup: 4/13

What I’m Reading

• Spokane Transit needs to hear from you! Their Board is considering delaying a crucial reauthorization vote, which would put federal and state funding for projects like North Division BRT at risk. STA Board meets Thursday—please send them a note urging them to place the measure on the November 2026 ballot.

• The City is considering reducing requirements for food trucks in the public right-of-way, a savvy move that will hopefully make these more popular downtown, both on work days and over the weekend.

• It’s also considering banning new drive-throughs across many of our commercial zones. While this was a hot-button issue a couple years ago when Chick-Fil-A proposed an outlet on E 29th on the South Hill, this latest iteration may be spurred in part by the same chain’s exploration of a restaurant on S Regal, a mile or two to the south.

• I’ve been loving Daniel Walters’ triumphant return to hyperlocal journalism. In RANGE last week, he did a deep-dive on Spokane’s skyrocketing jail costs. Short version: there are a lot of factors at play. Incidentally, the high costs of county jail services spurred some King County cities into starting their own, which they confusingly call a “correctional entity” instead of a jail.

• Financing rules, liability laws, building code, and other rules are making it increasingly difficult or impossible to build new condos in this country. That’s effectively shut down an affordable homeownership option that is far more common in other countries.

Development Proposals

Check out some of the new development proposals that have dropped since my last newsletter in mid-January. A few interesting ones:

• Matt Hutchins, architect-developer of the viral Spokane Six, is exploring development of a two-sixplex project on the Lower South Hill. The project would have a similar overall design to his original.

• Rob Brewster appears to be trying again at the McKinley School, a decade-long development saga that has vexed him and other developers over the years. He’s brought on Trek Architecture.

• Bethany Presbyterian Church is working on a 22-unit “YIGBY” (“Yes in God’s backyard”) with affordable housing in partnership with the currently financially-complicated THRIVE International. Either way, the project is now under construction, so it’s happening with or without THRIVE.

• Jeremy Tangen appears to be working on a 10-unit apartment building on the northwest kitty-corner of Coeur d’Alene Park in Browne’s Addition.

Here’s a look at that same information in map form. You’ll note some clustering of middle housing projects in Browne’s Addition and the Lower South Hill, but overall, these projects are pretty well-distributed across the city.