Higher-price homes coming to Cheney

CHENEY –Planning Commission members approved a preliminary plat application for a 46-unit residential development at their Sept. 14 meeting that could open the way for construction of more high-dollar value homes in the city.

Parkside 2nd Addition would plat 31 single-family lots and 15 duplexes on 16.98 acres of property near the corner of Simpson Parkway and North 6th Street. The property, owned by Gordon Finch Homes, is currently zoned for R-1 (single family) and R-2 (two-family) development.

The duplexes are to be built along the new Bethany Street and are actually part of an earlier approved rezone and plat proposed in 2019 by the Care Center to increase its senior living housing opportunities. Developer Gordon Finch said the single-family homes would be built based upon a model home tailored to the buyer's desires.

Homes would primarily be two-story, ranging in size from 2,600 – 3,000 square feet, all with three-car garages. Even with a model to view, Finch said the homes would essentially be custom built.

"About 75 percent of our work is custom," Finch told the commission. "I would guess price the price range is going to be in the $500,000 area."

Cheney home values are currently estimated at a median of $297,727, according to Zillow.com, with a list price per square foot of $192. That reflects an 11.3 percent increase over the past year, with median prices of homes currently listed at $319,990 and a median price of homes sold of $282,700.

Zillow's home assessment is for homes in the 99004 zip code, which extends outside the Cheney city limits and includes Marshal, Windsor, Fairways and Four Lakes areas.

Access to the development would mainly be from Simpson Parkway via new extensions of two existing streets - Bethany and Annie Place. Annie Place would connect to its southern portion east of the Care Center's Sessions Village near Plum Tree Court and would be open to thru traffic.

Bethany's southern connection will make a westward curve through the Cheney Care Center's Blackstone development to connect with North 6th Street, and dead end into the Care Center's Sessions Village.

"The road Bethany would pretty much end at the Care Center facility," Public Works Director Todd Ableman said, addressing a question about through access raised by Commissioner Dan Hillman. "Annie Place would be extended down to where it dead ends but ultimately continue through to Nolan Brown."

Several concerns arose over water, the first dealing with stormwater runoff, with Commissioner David Early noting in viewing a schematic that he saw nothing depicting stormwater retention ponds. Project engineer Scott McArthur said the area contains a lot of rock, making it necessary to tie the development in with the city's stormwater system.

"In this area and with these types of soils, it's kind of the option we're left with," he added.

The second concern was raised by Cheney resident Kevin Gill, who lives nearby in the Avalon Place development. Gill noted his neighborhood frequently has low water pressure, and question additional impacts to this from the Parkside Addition.

Ableman said water pressure is generally a condition of reservoir levels, something the city hopes it has addressed through bringing online a reconditioned well last year. Both he and McArthur also noted water mains in the area dead end, and that with Parkside coming online later in 2021 that those mains could be connected and "looped" together.

"I think with looping the system, we're going to improve capacity," McArthur said.

The preliminary plat now moves to City Council for final approval at its Sept. 22 meeting. The plat does carry two unusual conditions: one being a requirement for a forest practices application through the state Department of Natural Resources since part of the land is covered by a large stand of ponderosa pine.

The other condition is a requirement for an archeological survey of the site prior to any groundbreaking. If approved, infrastructure construction could commence in spring 2021.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].