The new majority on the Spokane Valley City Council ended the conversation on a program that could have helped preserve historic sites, thereby ending the idea before the process to gather public input could even start.  

The proposal which could have implemented a statewide program giving property owners within the city of Spokane Valley the ability to not only recognize their historic structures and sites but also provide a financial incentive to maintain them, and allow the city of Spokane Valley to compete for grant dollars to promote its historic properties, was rescinded by Council Members Woodard, Wood, Pace and Mayor Higgins after having been forwarded to the Planning Commission in a 4 to 3 vote last December before Council Member Wood joined the council.  

The statewide program which falls under the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation program is already being utilized by numerous localities across the state but specifically in our region by the unincorporated areas of Spokane County, the city of Spokane, the city of Millwood and the city of Cheney.  

The program, while created at the state level, still provided many options and could have been tailored to fit any direction that the citizens of Spokane Valley or the City Council desired. The program is fundamentally based upon a property tax option that would have allowed historically agreed upon sites which, maintaining their historic integrity through significant renovations, the ability to recover renovation costs by deducting the expenses from their property taxes over a 10-year period. The amount reduced from the historic property would be instead redistributed the remaining property owners within the city.  

While most people don't associate Spokane Valley with historic structures or landmarks. The Spokane Valley Heritage Museum (which at one point offered to help run the historic preservation program for the city of Spokane Valley) has identified approximately 120 properties on its registry and its speculated that approximately half of those could have qualified for the historic property designation depending on how the program would have been structured.  

A recent property that this program could have played a role in is with the Plantation Building on Sprague and Vista. If the owner had the option to offset the renovation costs when considering renovation, would they have been able to save the Plantation building?  

Arguments from those against the measure cited that the planning commission has too many issues to consider currently and that there are more important priorities that need city attention, such as the major update to the comprehensive plan. On March 17, less than three weeks after the City Council's decision to stop the consideration of the Historic Preservation program, the city of Spokane Valley issued a public notice citing "Due to lack of Planning Commission business, there will not be a [Planning Commission] meeting."  

The Historic Preservation program was not just about preserving history, it is an economic development tool. A tool that encourages redevelopment with the mutual benefit of preserving our history. Having been involved with local economic development around our area and visiting other economic development projects from around the state I can tell you, there is not a "one size fits all model." Businesses and landowners all have their own unique needs, priorities and plans. When cities or regions try to attract new businesses or retain others their goal is to facilitate matches and provide options on how they can make a situation in their area work. The Historic Preservation program could have been an economic development tool that the city of Spokane Valley added to our toolbox to help recruit or retain a business in our area.  

While government shouldn't be creating jobs itself, it can and should be providing the infrastructure and tools so that our businesses, land owners and citizens can. This program is something our city could have done, but is now one more tool that other communities have the ability to use and we don't. How many historic locations are we going to lose or grant dollars are we going to let go to other communities before this becomes a priority for our city?