Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Something good for once!
When government does something smart, I like to take note. This is an exceedingly easy task. I only have to do it every two or three years.
This smart action is small but still important.
The first initiative is a pilot program that will help entrepreneurs who want to renovate old buildings in Downtown Spokane. The city will foot the bill, up to $40,000 to upgrade the water and sewer lines into the building. "We hope it will help small businesses like restaurants that want to go into spaces downtown, but go oh my gosh we have to upgrade these old pipes," Waldref said, "So we may not do it in downtown, they'll go somewhere else and do it." The second initiative applies to the entire city of Spokane. People who want to renovate an old building and put apartments on the upper floors will no longer have to pay the residential sewer rate. Building owners would pay the much lower commercial rate. Waldref says it's much cheaper for the city to build within than to keep expanding outward. "It's a lot cheaper to deliver service to a building in downtown Spokane than it is on the outskirts of town. We already have the infrastructure there, we're already pumping water to that area."Amen and bravo. Infill is vastly more efficient than expanding the boundaries, especially when infill uses existing structures as well as existing land.
Labels: infill
¶ 8:14 AM
