By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
Airway Heights added on to its expanding residential community with the first phase of a new subdivision, Traditions, getting approved by the City Council last Monday.
Traditions will be a single-family subdivision located north of 6th Avenue, west of the Sunset Crossing subdivision. The approved phase will add 40 new homes in what will be a four-phase project of 190 total homes. One acre of land is set aside for a neighborhood mini-park, which the project's development company, Viking Construction of Spokane, donated to the city in exchange for lower park impact fees. Homes are planned to be marketed in the $200,000 range, according to the city web site.
At this time, Airway Heights has between 600 to 650 preliminary lots platted between five different new subdivisions that have sprung up throughout the northern part of town over the last few years. These include Hunter's Crossing, Sunset Crossing, Aspen Grove, Russell Heights, and now Traditions. That's about 90 percent of available residential lots in town, the last 10 percent being smaller-size infill projects.
On average, the city is building up to 75 new homes each year.
“That's [a good number] for a jurisdiction of our size,” city planner Ian Horlacher said.
Compared to other cities in Spokane County, Airway Heights is one expected to keep growing, he added. The number of currently available commercial lots, and location make it an ideal place to live, and do business.
“There are services in place [to build], and it's near a lot of regional job distribution centers within Spokane, the airport and Fairchild being so close by,” Horlacher said.
It's a factor homebuyers are considering a lot more with fuel costs getting so high, he added. “It's ideal for populations who'd rather not be living in the city but want to stay as close as they can.”
In 2000, according to a 2006 Free Press story, the city population was at 4,500, and expected about a 20 percent increase by the end of 2006 (about 5,420). The city's population currently sits at about 5,240. Steady numbers have helped encourage new businesses locating to Airway Heights, and near Hayford Road along Highway 2.
Establishments opening in the last year include a Starbucks, Verizon Wireless, two new fast food chains, bank branches for Numerica Credit Union and Washington Mutual, Les Schwab Tires, and the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Currently under construction is an Inland Northwest Bank building, to replace their branch located inside Yoke's Fresh Market, slated to open this fall.
For businesses to thrive, population is key to support them, Horlacher said.
“You don't just want to grow as a bedroom community; there does have to be a balance there,” he said.
Balance is also necessary in planning new housing for any community, he added.
Horlacher said Spokane's median average wage per capita has stayed the same while area home prices increased significantly these last five years. Most new projects are single-family, and there is a need to expand multi-family housing in the area. Multi-family housing units just east of the city limits are operating at a 95 percent capacity or more, so there is a market for it.
There's a notion that locating these higher-density housing units in or near single family brings down property values. From a market standpoint, this isn't true if units are well managed, Horlacher added. Property values are largely determined by quality of ownership.
When asked if the city had plans to increase its multi-family housing, Horlacher said there's about 80 acres left within the city's urban growth area to consider for locations. Officials are now focused on creating a mixed-use concept to plan projects for undeveloped parcels in the central city and land adjacent to North Craig Road.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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