Proposed 100-acre housing subdivision in Pasadena Park looks for support from nearby landowners

Land owners in a Spokane County water district will have a say on the future of a proposed housing development in the Pasadena Park Neighborhood north of the Spokane River.

Cowles Real Estate is proposing to build a subdivision with a maximum of 400 homes on about 100 acres near the Maringo Trailhead of the Centennial Trail in unincorporated Spokane County. Nearby residents raised concerns about the development’s potential impact on water rights, traffic and schools in the area during a board meeting of Pasadena Park Irrigation District 17 on Aug. 14, said Aaron Dunham, the irrigation district’s attorney. The testimony lasted about three hours, he said.

Cowles Real Estate, which is requesting the land be annexed into the water district, is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

Folks in the Neighborhood have been using the land as an open space for decades now. The acres of land sit empty, covered with long, dry grass speckled with wildflowers. The Cowles Co. is planning on developing single-family homes on the land. The Centennial Trail and Spokane River are directly south of the land. Homes and subdivisions border the land on the west and north.

“It’s a living landscape, home to deer, songbirds, pollinators, and countless other species that thrive in its meadows,” said Pasadena Park neighbor Elizabeth Braun. “Spokane residents come from near and far to walk off their daily stress and worries both in the meadow and on the adjacent trails.”

The 100 acres was always zoned for residential development, said Doug Yost, vice president of development and acquisitions for Cowles. The development is in the early stages. Cowles hasn’t yet determined a development time frame, Yost said.

“We plan to create a map after we get annexed into the water sites,” Yost said.

The housing shortage in Spokane has made buying homes less affordable for people, and Yost said more developments like this one would help fix the housing crisis. The plan has always been to develop the land, Yost said, but the number of homes that will be built on the property will depend on water availability.

During the hearing, the board had three options: to approve or deny annexation, or if someone showed why the land should not be annexed in, the board could choose to set an election date. The board opted for an election.

The election date could be decided during the irrigation district’s meeting on Sept. 11, Dunham said. No election will take place during the irrigation district meeting, Dunham said.

An irrigation district election is not run by the county election’s office, but by the district. Rules vary based on the district’s size, but typical irrigation district elections are held in person. The only people allowed to vote in the election are people who own land within the district boundaries, Dunham said. Irrigation district 17 has just under 2,800 customers, however, not all of its customers are land owners, the district’s office manager Amy Smith said.

James “JJ” Johnson, whose house faces the land that may be developed, said most of the Pasadena Park Neighborhood has been there for decades and nearly all of the residents are opposed to annexing the land into the water district.

“I imagine the neighborhood will be fighting every single step of this development,” Johnson said. “The concern right now is that if the water allocation all goes to an area that’s not within our boundaries at this point, then the people that have lived here for decades who want to expand and develop minorly may not be able to do that.”

The irrigation district has room to serve 190 more homes than it already does, as of January, Dunham said.

Millwood Mayor Kevin Freeman said he’s most concerned with what more houses will do for traffic and how it will impact schools. Millwood is nearby to the south and west of the proposed development.

The land is in the West Valley School District.

West Valley Superintendent Kyle Rydell said it’s unclear how the development will impact the district.

“We have room for kids. Some buildings have more room than others,” Rydell said.

Depending on how many homes would be built and how many kids move into those homes, the district could have to adjust the boundaries of elementary schools to make student populations more balanced, Rydell said.

If the annexation is approved in the election, the developers will move forward with a traffic study to see how the roads would be impacted by the residential development, Yost said. If the annexation is voted down in the election, Yost said that there are other options Cowles could pursue, including creating a new water district.

Folks in the Pasadena Park Neighborhood have called the land Maringo Meadows, and Braun said the land has contributed to its neighbors’ health and well-being. She, and other neighbors, want the land to be preserved the way that it is now.

“We would welcome the opportunity to work in a partnership with the Cowles and a conservation organization to preserve the meadow,” Braun said. “While fair reimbursement for the land is essential, this is also a unique opportunity to ensure that the Cowles name endures, not just in history, but as a meaningful legacy for future generations.”