A Spokane real estate broker and his family plan to start work this year on a proposed 128-lot residential subdivision six miles north of Spokane near U.S. 395.


The 42-acre development site is located along the east side of Hatch Road, about a mile and a half north of Hatch Roads junction with U.S. 395, and mostly encircles a planned 19-acre park being developed separately by Spokane County, says Neil Johnson, who is heading the subdivision project for his family and works for Coldwell Banker Northwest.


The development is to be called Bidwell Estates, like the planned Bidwell Community Park that it will surround, Johnson says.


If regulatory approvals for the development can be secured, infrastructure work should begin by the end of this year, and the subdivision is expected to take three years to develop completely, he says.


When fully developed, the subdivision would be worth about $38.4 million, Johnson says.


Johnson says his family plans to install roads and underground water, sewer, natural gas, and electricity lines to the lots, then sell the entire subdivision to a single housing contractor, whom he declines to name.


Homes in the development will be mid-range to high-end, starting at about $250,000. He says most of the homes will be situated across the street from the new park, but adds that 13 other lots, located farther east on the subdivision, will have a totally unrestricted view of Mount Spokane and homes on those lots likely will sell for $400,000 to $500,000.


The plan is for Coldwell Banker Northwest, of Spokane, to market the homes, he says.


Johnson said last week that the Spokane County hearing examiner was to hold a public hearing on the project Wednesday, April 6.


Johnson expected that any conditions placed on the preliminary plat would be workable. He says that process could take four to six months, but would be the last hurdle to starting infrastructure work.


A preliminary plat already has been submitted for the subdivision, and a conceptual drainage study has been completed on the project, says Andrew Worlock, senior project manager for CLC Associates Inc., of Spokane Valley, which did the subdivision layout and engineering design.


Johnson, whose family bought the property about a year ago, says he hopes to get infrastructure work under way and possibly build five or six houses this year, if we are lucky.


He adds, It depends on demand, but I would expect to complete the project in about three years.


Without the subdivision, the park would have had road access only from Hatch Road to the west, says Doug Chase, director of Spokane County parks and recreation.


With the roads built to accommodate the subdivision, the park also will have access on its southern and eastern borders, he says.


The county is providing some of the right-of-way for those roads and, in return, the Johnson family will incur the cost of putting in the roads, says Chase.


A swimming pool will be built in the first of four phases of development on the countys Bidwell Community Park. That phase should be completed by Aug. 15, says Chase.


The county and Johnson have worked cooperatively and the result of their efforts might be comparable to Manito Park and its surrounding neighborhood on Spokanes South Hill, Chase says.