Today’s Homes Might Be Smaller, But Could Also Have Better Services

The typical new house in Spokane County would have fewer rooms and a smaller lot if the Growth Management Act had been law for the past 20 years, home builders warn.

But others say it would have better services, and would be less expensive to maintain.

Take, for example, a rancher on one-third acre near Millwood in the Spokane Valley.

About 4 years old, it is about 1,200 square feet with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a basement.

It was listed for about $130,000 last summer.

Under GMA, the house would probably have been built before 1992, since there would have been more demand for buildable land, said county planner John Mercer. The lot would be slightly smaller, but the street might have sidewalks and lights, he said.

Almost certainly, the house would be connected to a public sewer system.

The new owners would pay $17.50 monthly sewer bills, but construction costs would have been lower, and there would be no septic tank and drain field to maintain.

GMA critic Al Hasslebacher, head of the Spokane Home Builders Association, said the price for such houses would be about $20,000 to $30,000 more - far out of reach for the typical buyer - under GMA.

To compensate, builders would have to start scaling back the size of houses, building more with two bedrooms and a single bath.

That’s not necessarily true, said Glenn Crellin, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research.

“With smaller lot sizes, the land might be less expensive,” lowering the cost of the house itself, said Crellin, who spent 16 years conducting research for the National Association of Realtors.

, DataTimes