A type of residential subdivision called a planned-unit development, or PUD, has become a common part of the landscape in Spokane County in recent decades, but that trend could change in coming years amid possible municipal tightening of PUD rules.


Some local planning officials worry that an ongoing proliferation of such developmentsat least the gated-and-fenced enclaves with private roads and dead-end cul-de-sacscould create basic- and emergency-service access problems and public-utility extension headaches as urban density grows here.


We are building a city of little islands, and when you look at that from a service-delivery standpoint, its a nightmare, contends Candace Mumm, president of the Spokane Plan Commission.


Additionally, the growing number of largely self-contained PUDs runs counter, she argues, to an overriding theme in the citys 3-year-old comprehensive land-use plan and among neighborhood groups for greater connectivity, between neighborhoods, schools, and businesses.


I think it comes back to the question of do we want to create pockets of nonpublic neighborhoods. It really causes a disruption, such as with public sewer and water service extensions, she says.


Jim Frank, CEO of Greenstone Corp., a developer here, says the private, gated neighborhoods that some planners have concerns about represent only a portion of the PUDs being developed in Spokane and Kootenai counties.


The only time that weve actually used that kind of product is in the context of an empty-nester community, where residents are drawn to the privacy and security such developments offer, he says.


You do end up creating kind of an enclave, he says. I believe there is a role for that kind of product, but I also dont believe theres a reason for a lot of it. Its a small niche in the housing market.


Frank notes that a couple of large developments here in which his company has been involved extensivelyMeadowWood, at Liberty Lake, and Coeur dAlene Place, in Coeur dAleneare PUDs. He points out, though, that they have open designs and mostly public streets.


The reason we do a lot of our projects (as PUDs), especially the larger, ones is it allows us a degree of flexibility in design, Frank says. Most PUD ordinances require that a minimum of 10 percent open space be provided. Some jurisdictions have not implemented that very well.


He says, If that 10 percent open space is used effectively, you end up with a better community. I feel that if were going to get innovation and creativity in subdivision design, you need to allow (PUDs). That doesnt mean you have to have private roads.


A large majority of the subdivision applications now being filed in the city of Spokane are for PUDs rather than conventional subdivisions, and close to half of the filings in the city of Spokane Valley and Spokane County so far this year have been PUDs, officials say.


Mumm says shes concerned that developers are using the process to skirt costs associated with conventional subdivisions, such as requirements for sidewalks and wider streets, rather than to deal with unique site-specific design issues, which is largely what PUDs are intended for.


The idea always has been that PUDs should meet a higher design standard than conventional subdivisions, and I would argue that thats not whats happening on the ground right now, at least in some respects, she says.


Frank agrees with Mumm that some of the PUDs developed here were designed poorly, but asserts that others have been done very well and are better neighborhoods than they would have been if theyd been developed as conventional subdivisions. He contends that if there is going to be consistency, the onus is on regulators to set clear standards and then adhere to them.


You may have to look closely at what your standards are and how youre implementing them, he says. Its not the fact that youre using a PUD thats wrong; its how theyre implemented. He adds, Too often the jurisdictions dont have well defined what they want.


To be sure, PUDs are popular among many home buyers. Depending on their form, they offer not just a greater degree of privacy and security, but also control over aesthetic standards, and amenities such as pathways, parks, and recreational facilitiesmaintained through monthly fees collected by homeowners associations. In some cases, association fees also cover services such as yard care and snow removal.


Frank says, I dont think theres that many (being developed here now) with private roads and gates on them. That has become kind of a symbol of bad planning and a lack of healthy diversity.


In the city of Spokane, PUDs will be one of the topics discussed in coming months as the citys Plan Commission begins working on revised residential zoning regulations that are to become part of a new unified development code. The Plan Commission and planning department staff are expected to discuss policy direction for those new rules at a meeting next week.


Greg McCormick, the city of Spokane Valleys planning division manager, says that he, like Mumm, has some access-related concerns and that his department definitely will take a close look at PUD criteria once the city adopts a comprehensive land-use plan it is preparing.


More creative design


PUD regulations provide a process through which a land-development project can be planned comprehensively to fit a particular site. PUDs are intended to allow more creative design than is possible under conventional grid-type zoning, such as for geographically challenging or environmentally sensitive sites, but they havent been used effectively, I dont think, in some cases in the Spokane Valley, McCormick says.


PUD regulations allow developers to meet overall dwelling-units-per-acre density requirements and comprehensive land-use plan goals without being bound by rigid rules such as for minimum lot sizes, building-setback distances, and street widths. Through bonus density, developers can cluster homes in smaller areas than normally would be allowed, for example, in return for preserving elsewhere on the development site such things as geologic formations or natural vegetation, or for creating open areas for residents.


John Pederson, a senior planner at the county, says he hasnt heard any concerns raised about PUDs in the less heavily developed unincorporated area. He says, though, that there have been talks about having them integrated (better into surrounding neighborhoods) as opposed to (being) closed developments.


The countys new comprehensive plan doesnt discourage PUDs, but its recently adopted new zoning code did alter PUD road standards slightly to make them more consistent with general county road standards, Pederson says.


Ken Pelton, a planner with the city of Spokane, estimates that PUDs recently have made up 70 percent or more of the citys new subdivision applications.


There are some advantages from the development perspective that PUDs give you, he says, such as the narrower streets and a density based on gross land area rather than overall land area minus public streets, as in a conventional subdivision plan.


One of the drawbacks with at least some of the PUDs from a municipal perspective, Pelton says, is that they do block, at least in some cases, city infrastructure from being extended.


He notes that the citys new comprehensive land-use plan, adopted a couple of years ago and still in the process of being implemented, allows for more residential design flexibility than the one it replaced. Ultimately, he says, the new plan might prove more user friendly to some developers and thus lessen their interest in pursuing PUDs.