Downtown business owners expressed concerns regarding construction and a proposed land lease agreement at the Pullman City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Michelle Kelly, owner of Michelle’s Closet, said several of the downtown businesses are suffering much more than anticipated amid the Project Downtown Pullman construction.

“We are down 70% in sales for all years previous, and we’re actually doing even worse than COVID,” Kelly said.

Kelly, who is in her sixth year owning Michelle’s Closet, said her business even relocated in an attempt to get through the months of construction.

“Myself and a few others going into [the construction] were actually really hopeful,” Kelly said. “We estimated our business sales going down about 30%.”

Kelly said she has been in contact with several other business owners who range from being down 40–80% in sales.

“There are six [businesses] who don’t know if they’ll make it through the next two months on the other side of this construction,” Kelly said. 

The city council additionally heard from Pullman business owners responding to a proposed land lease for businesses on Main Street. The land lease initially costs $250 a year and $200 for each subsequent year the lease is in place, according to the council’s agenda.

The lease agreement regulates outdoor sidewalk use to 250 square feet.

Community development director RJ Lott said new land leases would be approved by the city council and utilize the new fee schedule after Oct. 15.

Chris Chandler, co-owner of Neil’s Coffee & Ice Cream, said he went through 120 years worth of documents from his business to find any consistency with the proposed leasing, previously insurance for sidewalk usage.

“I’ve been on Main Street for 50 years. Permits have never been required except for those who have had alcohol service,” said Mitch Chandler.

The council’s agenda compares the proposed leasing to the one held by the City of Spokane, which is at $300 for an initial review and $250 for each subsequent year.

Chandler said the Moscow land lease is far less and questioned the comparison of Spokane.

Kelly said she was wondering if there was a possibility that businesses could have a waiver for the first year due to several businesses suffering from the construction, with some owners having taken out home equity loans, closed retirement accounts or used personal funds to keep their business open.

Council member Pat Wright said the fee amount was conceptualized after considering the various communities across Washington and there was no set formula for coming up with a specific number.

Lott said the effective date is at the business’s discretion, meaning if a business did not want to utilize outside space until the spring, that is when the fee would be paid. 

The council passed the resolution unanimously, with the understanding that community feedback will be taken into consideration for future edits.