Spokane-area home builders say the West Plains is the new Mecca for residential-development activity.


Unlike the South Hill, the North Side, and the Valley, where undeveloped land is getting harder to find and has become more expensive when it is available, large parcels of land remain for sale at attractive prices west of Spokane, say local builders.


The West Plains is ready to explode, asserts Corey Condron, an owner of Condron Construction Inc., of Spokane, which builds up to 170 homes a year and already has built a 250-unit single-family housing development, called Sekani, just east of Airway Heights on the West Plains.


High employment numbers at Northern Quest Casino, which currently employs more than 1,000 people, and decisions by more and more people stationed at nearby Fairchild Air Force Base to move to off-base housing are contributing to growth on the West Plains, Condron says.


George Paras, owner of Paras Construction Inc., of Spokane, predicts that the West Plains will be the site of much of Spokane Countys residential growth in coming years unless the Spokane County commissioners enlarge the countys designated urban growth area and open more land outside of that area to higher density levels.


The urban growth area was established under the states Growth Management Act and includes land where urban growth is projected to occur within the next 20 years, says John Pederson, Spokane Countys assistant director of planning. He says much of the land has the potential to be annexed into municipalities in the future.


The South Hill is almost totally shut off from development because theres so little land available to build on, Paras says. Theres still a small amount of land available in the Valley, and less on the North Side.


Condron likens the West Plains future growth to development already seen near Liberty Lake.


Airway Heights will start connecting to Spokane like Liberty Lake now connects to Spokane Valley, he says.


Pederson says possibly 1,000 single-family homes and 200 apartment units were built on the West Plains, mostly south of Interstate 90, between June 2005 and October 2006. That spurt was triggered by the Spokane County commissioners decision to open up a large section of light-industrial zoned land, the predominant zone in the area, to residential development, he says.


In October last year, however, the county commissioners placed a moratorium on such residential development north of I-90. That moratorium, scheduled to expire in August, was put in place to weigh how such residential development might affect air space around Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport, Pederson says.


Scot Auble, president of the Spokane appraisal firm Auble Jolicoeur & Gentry, says West Plains residential growth likely will extend to Medical Lake, which is in position to absorb much of the housing sought by Fairchild personnel.


Auble says Liberty Lake and Five Mile Prairie, north of Spokane, have seen a lot of residential development activity over the past three to five years, but growth has slowed in those areas. Other than the big 900-acre Greenstone development, he says builders in Liberty Lake saw that citys construction boom end in 2005 when they ran out of available land to build on. On Five Mile Prairie, a lack of arterial access is slowing home-construction growth, he says.


Auble says Greenstones big mixed-used development in Liberty Lake that will skirt the Spokane River also is a hot spot for residential development. Jason Wheaton, president of Greenstone Corp., of Liberty Lake, which is developing the project, says the company is well under way on a 15-year plan to develop about 3,500 lots at that site, which is being called the River District at Liberty Lake.


Auble says the lack of available land in the Valley has caused some lot prices there to jump to $60,000 from $35,000 in the last few years.


He says another about 500 acres of land could become available for development in the next few years east and northeast of Esmeralda Golf Course, in east Spokane.


Private landowner Pete Rayner says hes making progress in his efforts to get city approval to develop about 200 acres of land he owns within the city limits there, south of Wellesley Avenue.


Also, Auble suggests Spokane County is considering adding to the urban growth area another 300 acres or more of privately owned land just north of Rayners property, outside of Spokanes city limits. Such a designation for that property, north of Wellesley and east of Havana Street, would pave the way for residential development in an area a few miles away from downtown Spokane, he says.


Paul Jensen, a senior planner for the county, says that land outside the city limits has been designated as urban reserve, meaning its prime property for future inclusion in the countys urban growth area.


Also, Rayner says he and four other landowners own about 1,000 acres of urban-reserve land just north of the Spokane city limits along both sides of Indian Trail Road. He hopes that land, for about a one-mile stretch between Rutter Parkway and the city limits will be added into the countys urban growth area soon.


Infill


Paras says he endorses the use of infill development, as promoted in the states growth-management regulations to minimize sprawl, but believes nevertheless that the county needs to add more land to the urban growth area to allow for additional high-density residential development outside city boundaries.


If we leave it until all the infill is absorbed, problems will occur and costs will go through the roof, Paras contends.


We want multiple options for buyers, whether they want large lots, mid-range lots, small lots, condominiums, or other types of homes, he says.


Jensen says the county is mandated in its comprehensive plan to work with the 13 municipalities in the county every five years to review the urban growth area for possible change. He says the latest five-year update was supposed to have been completed by the end of last year, but all the major updates are still pending.


Pederson says a complex formula called a land-quantity analysis is used to determine what land is available to meet projected population growth over the next 20 years within the county. That analysis calculates what growth can occur by in-filling areas currently available for housing development, both within cities and within the urban growth area outside the cities, he says. Then, evaluating other factors such as population growth, infrastructure availability and needs, and future tax revenues, the county determines what outlying areas are best suited for urban development, and adds them to the countys urban growth area.


Meanwhile, the county commissioners and the Spokane City Council currently are embroiled in the latter stages of a legal battle to determine where urban growth area boundaries should be set in the North Metro area, says Pederson. He says the city contends the urban growth area should be extended to include more land in the Linwood, Kaiser, and Wandermere areas north of Spokane.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.