Working with our partners at Woodsong Associates, Studio Davis is consulting the nonprofit REACH West Central on an ongoing neighborhood revitalization project in Spokane, Washington. REACH was created in part to help administer and support a new tax increment financing (TIF) district, a wonky financing model that allow for anticipated future growth in tax revenues to be spent upfront on the infrastructure needed to support and spur that growth. Like many northwestern cities, Spokane has seen a significant increase property values and costs of living over the last several years. However the West Central neighborhood continues to see underinvestment relative to the rest of the city, and the impacts on infrastructure and development are easy to see.
Our work was to help the group identify and select a range of transportation projects that would have a high impact on the revitalization of the neighborhood and support healthy and sustainable development patterns., and to identify funding strategies and public processes to move the projects forward, ultimately crafting a detailed scope of work for the planning and design phases to follow.