Cluster Of Homes Home Buyers At Dhaenens Square Will Be Getting More Than A House; They’ll Get A Planned Community

Ah, the Spokane Valley. Big yards, privacy and plenty of elbow room. That’s the appeal of suburban real estate, right?

The problem, many planning experts say, is that building big means big-time sprawl, and sprawl means vanishing rural areas and higher infrastructure costs. Water has to be piped farther and roads have to be longer, all to serve the same number of people. And some residents have found that attached garages and big, private back yards lend little to enjoyment of neighborhood camaraderie.

One possible solution to such problems really isn’t new at all - it’s bringing back the idea of the traditional urban neighborhood: large front porches, small yards, alleys and all. Homes making up just such a project recently went on the market at 16th and Evergreen, in a 66-home PUD called Dhaenens Square. If the subdivision succeeds, it could initiate a new development trend here.

Bill Smith, owner of Smith Signature Homes, came up with the idea to develop the former Dhaenens family farm into an old-style neighborhood. Smith said the county encourages small-lot subdivisions as part of growth management, but he sees other reasons too.

“The main reason is we’re trying to bring families back together, and in larger lots they just don’t get along and socialize like they used to,” he said. He said he’s often heard those comments from people living in large-lot developments he has worked on. Smith said whereas 20 years ago everyone one in the Valley wanted a horse, people are now starting to long for front porches, neighborhood parks and recognizable faces just across the yard.

“It reminds them of the place they grew up,” he said.

Although just 10 Dhaenens Square homes are now standing, their variety gives an idea of what Smith is trying to do. He said he doesn’t want a “cookie-cutter” project. The homes range in price from $125,000 to $170,000. Some of the homes are of the ranch-style popular with seniors. Others are two-level, sloped-roofed houses with large porches that scream nostalgia; those homes are targeted more to families. Smith wants the neighborhood made up of seniors, families with children, young couples and singles alike.

He isn’t the only one who thinks such projects are the wave of the future. Cathy Ramm of Ramm Associates, a land-use consulting firm, said she has been suggesting such designs to developers for years.

They just wouldn’t bite. “Snow removal was always a big concern here,” Ramm said. Smaller roadways and back alleys were reasons that developers balked at the idea.

They were also unsure of the demand, but Ramm thinks it’s growing, and for more than just warm-fuzzy reasons. Big Valley lots are climbing in price because it’s getting increasingly expensive to provide them with water and road access as new developments spring up farther east.

Ramm said she’s interested to see how Dhaenens Square fares. She said homes in similar “neo-traditional neighborhoods” sell well in Western Washington.

The East Coast is another place such developments are catching on - by necessity. Bob Scarfo, a professor of landscape architecture at WSU’s Spokane campus, said that should be a lesson to planners here. He points to another valley - the Connecticut River Valley - as an example. There, love of big lots caused dramatically longer commutes and a dwindling of natural areas, he said.

“They were contributing to the very thing they were trying run away from - sprawl,” Scarfo said. Sprawl hasn’t reached that critical stage here. But he said it will be just a matter of time until Valley residents are in the same boat, unless developers return to the “older, earlier-in-the-century approach” to building.

“The people in the Spokane area don’t realize how fast changes are taking place,” he said. Reactionary planning, he said, isn’t the answer - sprawl prevention is.

John Pederson, a Spokane County senior planner, said projects like Dhaenens Square are a move in the right direction. “It’s important not to keep extending,” he said. “This aids growth management and certainly encourages that.”

And his experience, like Smith’s, tells him people are now willing to give the neo-traditional neighborhoods a try. And once developers see people moving into small-lot, urban-style homes, such projects will multiply.

“A lot of this is market-driven, too,” Scarfo said. “When (developers) see a market for it, they’ll build it … people like that sense of community where they know their neighbors.”

One home buyer, who didn’t want her name used, chose Dhaenens Square for just such reasons. She said having neighbors nearby adds to her sense of security.

Dave Nerren, the Tomlinson Black Realtor who shares the PUD’s listings with Kay Simonsmeier, said security is easily one of the biggest reasons people show interest in the project. The neighborhood will have two park areas of its own, and people like knowing they can visit them without fear of strangers roaming around.

He said the fact the small yards will be serviced by a groundskeeper scores points with busy professionals.

Ultimately, though, the biggest value of a project like Dhaenens Square might be its example, Scarfo said.

“The exciting thing is, there’s still an opportunity to save the character of what surrounds Spokane.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 Photos (2 color)