Projects

5th Avenue Community Plan

Project Purpose

The City is embarking on a planning process to create the 5th Avenue Community Plan, reflecting the vision and desires of the community with priorities and action steps. The 5th Avenue Community Plan will establish a community-led framework of goals and policies for future land use, economic growth, connectivity, and quality of life improvements for the 5th Avenue community in the East Central neighborhood. The plan will build on the 5th Avenue Initiative and other initiatives and build synergy with ongoing and upcoming public projects from both the City and other external government agencies.

Project Timeline

Image by Seva Workshop, Updated February 2025

Study Area

The study area is located south of I-90 around the 5th Avenue corridor, in the southeast section of the East Central neighborhood. This area includes the historical Black business district and is home to several diverse community organizations that serve both local residents and regional visitor. Key community-based organizations include the Carl Maxey Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center, Spokane Eastside Reunion Association and Fresh Soul Restaurant, and New Developed Nations among other businesses along 5th Avenue. Key destinations include Liberty Park and Underhill Park, Liberty Park Aquatic Center, Liberty Park Public Library, and the Frances L.N. Scott Elementary School, named for the Spokane civil rights leader, educator, and lawyer who grew up in the neighborhood.

Project Updates

Follow along on this webpage for project updates and upcoming opportunities to share your input. This project will be rooted in a robust and holistic engagement process, and will include events to engage current residents, community members, key stakeholders, and local agencies. Connect with us through the following ways:

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• Stay tuned! Check back regularly for updates and additional resources.

Background

The 5th Avenue community is the historic center and cultural hub of the Black community in Spokane and is also home to a growing diversity of residents, including Latino and recent immigrant communities. The City, through its hired consultant team, Seva Workshop, will develop this plan in collaboration with community members over the next 24 months, including those who live, work, visit, and have community connections to the area. The planning process will have a focus on addressing the historic and ongoing impacts of divisive highway infrastructure that has bisected East Central, displaced residents, and isolated the 5th Avenue area to repair damage and bring reconnection and restoration to the community.

This plan is funded through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) recovery funds received by the City of Spokane in 2021 to keep municipal governments afloat amid the financial crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, City Council passed Ordinance C36163 appropriating some of the ARPA funds solely for subarea planning to increase housing along transportation corridors, with a focus on historically marginalized communities. In 2024, City Council passed a resolution initiating subarea planning in the 5th Avenue Community, which kicked off the process.

Other Initiatives

This plan will build on current and past planning efforts in the 5th Avenue community and help move vision into action through a cohesive co-design process with community leaders and members.

Current Initiatives

• Smart Growth America Community Connectors Program
  This program provided a capacity building grant to the Carl Maxey Center to support local leaders in the 5th Avenue community in advancing locally driven projects that reconnect communities separated by transportation infrastructure. This program will conclude in June 2025.

Past Initiatives

• EPA Rethinking Highways for Healthy Communities Pilot Program
  This pilot program provides environmental planning services in communities impacted by highway re-design efforts. The EPA’s Office of Community Revitalization provided the City technical assistance to support an equitable community-led visioning process for the redevelopment of the surplus lands owned by the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), with a facilitated workshop in November 2024. Read the final report to learn more about the workshop and next action steps.
• 5th Avenue Initiative
  The subarea plan builds on the foundation and vision established in the 5th Avenue Initiative Community Strategy, adopted in 2021 as the culmination of a multi-year process of community engagement and work by community leaders, residents, businesses, and organizations in collaboration. This multi-faceted project reflected the diversity of East Central Spokane to foster neighborhood identity and enhance quality of life for citizens and businesses along the 5th Avenue corridor.