Covenant Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) hopes to sell its eight-acre site at the northwest corner of 57th Avenue and Palouse Highway and build elsewhere on the South Hill. The move would open up a potential retail site along the coveted 57th Avenue corridor.


Spokane County commissioners granted a comprehensive-plan amendment to the church for that property, and that amendment includes a change in zoning from low-density residential to mixed use, which allows retail, office, and high-density residential uses, says Jim Watson, of Kiemle & Hagood Co.


A 60-day appeal period for the amendment change ends later this month.


Watson says the church has offers from interested buyers and is negotiating to sell the property, though no agreements have been reached.


The Rev. Michael Redhawk Rice-Sauer, of Covenant Christian Church, says the church is looking at potential development sites within a two-mile radius of its current location, but hasnt decided upon a location for construction of its new facility yet. He says the size and scope of that project will depend on how much money the church gets from selling its current location and how much it can raise through grants and donations.


Rice-Sauer says hes just now beginning to meet with architects on design of a new church building.


The current church building has 16,600 square feet of floor space, and Rice-Sauer says the churchs new facility is expected to be larger than that.


In addition to a sanctuary, the structure is expected to include a youth performing arts center and perhaps a music school, he says. The church is involved in a number of youth music programs and hosts the Spokane Youth Orchestra.


Rice-Sauer says the church currently has 50 members. Started in 1886, it has been located at its current location for 35 years.


Developments have been proposed at other corners of the 57th Avenue-Palouse Highway intersection and at times have been met with resistance by nearby residents. On 18 acres at the southeast corner of the intersection, land owners have proposed an urban village that could be anchored by a Yokes Washington Foods Inc. supermarket. The owners of that property received a zone change last year allowing commercial development there.


The county, however, rejected in 2001 a zone-change request for a proposed small retail center and bank branch at the northeast corner of the intersection.