The city of Spokane should remain open to private-public partnership and look to leverage maximum use out of its increasingly valuable property on and near the Spokane River. 

Specifically, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department should continue to explore such partnerships as it determines the best use for the Bosch Lot, a small parcel on just over an acre at the northwest corner of Bridge Avenue and Lincoln Street—near the river but not fronting the river. 

The parcel has been used as a surface parking lot since 1975, when the parks department bought it. Currently, the city is installing a combined-sewer overflow tank on that site. Situated between Riverfront Park and the bustling, growing Kendall Yards neighborhood, the Bosch Lot is prime for a better use. 

The parks department had started the process of finding that better use for that site, with the proposal a privately-owned climbing gym there that since has been taken off the table. The city had begun fielding public comment on that project and its plan to seek removal of restrictions on the site that would allow development there. That land had been bought in the mid-1970s using funds from the Washington state Recreation and Conservation Office, with restrictions on how the land may be used. To develop anything other than parkland or a public recreational use there, the city would need the state agency’s approval. 

Initially, the city had planned to seek the state’s approval next month for the climbing gym proposal. After receiving a number of critical comments about that envisioned project, the parks department abandoned that plan and decided to start what it calls a visioning-and-planning exercise to find the best use. 

The parks department is smart to regroup and take a broader look at the future of that site. In reality, it’s doing what it should have done in the first place: start an inclusive process to find the best use for the Bosch Lot, with ample public feedback, instead of locking onto one project. 

In theory, after all ideas are vetted and the city moves through the process, a climbing gym might remain the best use for the site, whether developed by the original group or by others. While other climbing gyms operate in Spokane, such a facility could be a welcome addition for outdoor enthusiasts and a great addition to that neighborhood. The parks department shouldn’t rule out that possibility strictly because of the way the initial process played out. 

Ideally, other proposals will surface that rival a climbing gym in terms of best use for that site, and the city and its citizens can have a healthy debate about its options.

Through its process, though, the city should remain open to development on the site. While technically designated as parkland, the Bosch Lot hasn’t served as such and would have minimal value as an island of green space, separated by streets from the edge of Riverfront Park. And it certainly shouldn’t go back to being a parking lot.