Downtown Spokane alleyways could be seeing some drastic improvements by this summer.
For the past ten years, the City of Spokane has had a policy calling for alleyway activation and now it is hoping to streamline a process that will make this possible.
City staff are in the very beginning stages of this project, gathering ideas to see what can be done with the alleyway space on Railroad Alley from Cedar Street to Washington Street and Steam Plant Alley from Cedar Street to Washington Street, with the possibility of reaching Division Street.
"You can have wonderful activities going on here with alfresco dining, and café dining and park-like improvements. This is still a public way but you can make those kinds of park-like fun improvements," said Dean Gunderson, senior urban designer for the city of Spokane.
"There's no additional taxpayer expenditure, no additional obligation that's going on. This is just the thing that we want to see happen – that great partnership between private business and public enterprise," he continued.
Local designers, landscape architects, urban designers and artists have been meeting to come up with ideas for the alleyway spaces.
The city is hoping to involve any business owners, residents or property owners along the alleyways, but also asks anyone from the general public to share ideas.
The hope is to have a "First Friday" event in early May to showcase ideas and get more feedback.
If all goes as planned, project leaders hope to have a handbook for business and property owners by June to implement some of the ideas in the alleyways.
For the next two weeks, the city will have a survey on its website where people can provide feedback.