The city of Spokane hasnt offered mediation to Diamond Parking Inc. in its condemnation suit against the company to acquire property in the block south of the INB Performing Arts Center and Convention Center, and Diamond is uninterested in mediation, says Spokane attorney Bob Dunn, who represents the company.


Two weeks ago, the city, which has filed the condemnation action against Diamond on behalf of the Spokane Public Facilities District, agreed to attempt mediation with Spokane architect and developer Glen Cloninger, who also owns property on the block and has filed an inverse condemnation suit against the city.


The mediation is still going ahead, Cloninger said late last week.


In Diamonds case, Dunn says, There have been no conversations about mediating anything.


Meanwhile, Dan Geiger, vice president of Diamond Parking of Spokane, says that in November 2006, Diamond began working on an offer to sell the property to the PFD. Geiger says Diamonds attorneys and the PFDs attorneys worked on the offer for months, but the PFDs board of directors rejected the offer in April 2007. He says he doesnt know why the board rejected the offer.


Kevin Twohig, executive director of the PFD, says, Its fair to say that the negotiations with DPS (Diamond Parking Services) broke down over the DPS requirement for a 25-year parking management agreement.


Geiger says Diamond, which manages numerous parking lots here and in other U.S. cities, included in its offer that it would have the parking contract for any PFD development on the site. We went to great lengths with legal counsel to make sure what we were asking for was not illegal or unrealistic, Geiger says. Our thinking was they needed someone to run the parking. We werent asking for any special deal. It was market rates. It would have been something that the public would have understood.


Dunn says the only use the PFD has discussed for the south block thus far is parking. He says of Diamond, If the use is a parking use, they dont want to sell their property. What makes the government entity think they can compete with private enterprise?


He adds, The city has not done everything it statutorily needs to do to establish that theres a public use. There has never been a study that indicates the kind of use theyre talking about.


In a memorandum to support a motion to dismiss the condemnation suit, Dunn says the city has failed to comply with RCW 35.86. Dunn says the statute requires that before establishing parking facilities in conjunction with civic centers, cities must establish that the primary purpose of the new facility will be to provide parking for people who use the civic center and must prepare economic and physical surveys, as necessary. It also requires that they prepare a comprehensive parking plan and hold a public hearing, he says.


Twohig declines to comment on Dunns memorandum or motion, and the PFDs attorney, Tim Lawlor, also declines to comment.


On Monday, Twohig said he would be presenting a request for proposals (RFP) to the PFD board on Tuesday to hire an expert to develop a master plan for the south site, and if the request is approved, will issue the RFP by the end of the week. In the past, he has said that the district wants the south block, which is bounded by Spokane Falls Boulevard, Washington and Bernard streets, and Main Avenue, for future expansion.


Dunn, in his memo arguing for dismissal of the PFDs condemnation suit, says the city hasnt studied the financial feasibility of building and operating a parking garage on the Diamond property and has ignored its own 2005 parking study that concluded it wouldnt be financially feasible to build a public parking garage in downtown Spokane.


He adds that the city has no current comprehensive parking plan and instead relies on an outdated plan.


The city, at the PFDs request, filed the condemnation suit against Diamond in January.


In our opinion, that didnt need to happen, Geiger says. He says Diamond has handled parking at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena for the PFD for 15 years. I have a lot of respect for those people and consider them business associates, he says. I just dont agree with the fact that they sued us.


Geiger says the city has wanted Diamonds property for years, and weve always told them we would be happy to sell it to them, but they need to come to grips with the company that owns most of the block. Weve always told them that once you get that solved, well follow (Cloninger) to the closing table. Weve told them that many, many times. The Diamonds have told them that.


The suit is costing the PFD a lot of money, and its costing us a lot of money to defend ourselves, Geiger says.


Dunn says he believes the PFD rejected Diamonds offer because it believed if it accepted the offer it would have to pay the same amount for Cloningers property later.


Government entities want to take property without paying market value, Dunn says. If you reach agreement with one property owner, that sets the bar at which all other property owners shoot. The acquiring entity doesnt want that tool to be used against them.