County OKs Valley Springs subdivision
A proposed 369-unit housing development less than two miles east of Hillyard received a green light Wednesday from Spokane County.
Two years in the making, Valley Springs subdivision is expected to bring homes costing $300,000 and up to the slopes just east of Beacon Hill immediately west of the Northwood neighborhood.
The development is planned by Landworks LLC, a partnership spearheaded by real estate broker Bryan Walker. Walker had originally sought the county’s approval in early 2005 with plans to break ground early that summer.
But the neighbors surrounding the project balked at potential traffic increases as well as Valley Springs’ effect on open space and wildlife. They stalled approval of the project until reaching an agreement with Landworks just within the last two months.
Alan Harbine, a Northwood neighbor told other residents the night before Valley Springs’ approval that they’d done well to get Landworks to redraw the roads running through the project. Wednesday, a few residents stood before hearing examiner Michael Dempsey in Spokane County’s public works building to express lingering concerns about traffic safety. But most sat quietly. It was a much different response than the outrage the group displayed at community meetings leading up to the compromise.
Neighbors feared the proposed Valley Springs subdivision would result in a thoroughfare running through Northwood, a community on the hills north of Millwood. The existing community is serviced by a dead-end street, Columbia Drive, which drains onto Argonne Road.
With the approval of Valley Springs, Columbia Drive will no longer be a dead end. The street would connect to Thierman Road to the west. From Thierman, drivers could go north to Bigelow Gulch Road or turn south and head down steep-and-narrow Valley Springs Road to Hillyard.
It’s the Valley Springs route that most concerns Northwood neighbors. Wellesley Avenue, a major Spokane arterial feeds into Valley Springs Road. A few kinks aside, the new connection makes for pretty easy travel from north Spokane to Spokane Valley via the Northwood neighborhood.
There’s also reason to believe Spokane drivers would pursue the shortcut. Currently there are only two roads north of the Spokane River that connect Spokane and Spokane Valley. Upriver Drive does the job right along the river. Bigelow Gulch does the same except much farther north. In the two miles between Upriver and Bigelow, it is impossible to drive between the two cities.
But the Valley Springs-Columbia Drive connection would open up a shortcut roughly halfway between the only two east-west routes, though the quality of the road is less than ideal. Valley Springs is steep enough to be impassible on icy days and narrow enough at 25-feet wide to make oncoming traffic hard to get by. There’s a steep drop- off along part of the road.
Several neighbors noted that the new subdivision will be part of Spokane Public Schools and that teenagers will probably want to drive down Valley Springs Road to get to Rogers High School. The route would be the shortest way by a couple of miles.
“Teenagers love danger. They’ll drive right off the edge of the cliff just for the heck of it,” said Judith Tuggle who lives on Valley Springs Road.
However, Northwood neighbors were able to persuade Landworks to alter its road design so the shortcut down Valley Springs Road wasn’t so obvious. Landworks relocated the west end of Columbia Drive some 300 feet to the south of Valley Springs so the two streets didn’t connect directly. Columbia will drain onto Thierman Road at a 90-degree angle so for appearance’s sake it won’t look like a straight shot to Spokane Valley. Also, Landworks agreed to landscape the property around the intersection so it will appear like motorists are entering a private development.
On the Northwood end of the project, Landworks agreed to a bit of a greenbelt between its development and Northwood, in an attempt to not crowd its existing neighbors. Landworks also cut the number of building lots in its development.