The owner of about 285 acres of farmland in the Deep Creek area west of Fairchild Air Force Base says he hopes to sell about 13 10-acre lots from the property for home construction.

The property is located south of U.S. 2 and just west of Ritchey Road.

The owner, Glen Wollweber, a farmer who lives near Reardan, Wash., has submitted an application to Spokane County for a preliminary large-lot subdivision to divide about 139 acres of his property there into the roughly 10-acre lots. He's not sure yet what price he'll ask for the lots, and has not selected a name for the planned subdivision, although he says it might include the name Deep Creek.

Wollweber, who grows alfalfa and grass, says he hopes to start selling lots by March.

Wollweber says he wants to connect a road on the property to the highway. He says a rail line crosses his property, and the road crosses the rail line.

Bill Moser, a senior planner for the Spokane County building and planning department, says Wollweber would need to be granted access from that road to the highway and also obtain a rail-crossing permit, both from the Washington state Department of Transportation.

Moser says the project is on hold until the state provides the necessary access and permit. The lots won't be created for possible sale until that's done, he says.

Through the county, the project will be going through a public hearing process, Moser says. Preliminary plat approval has not been granted, he says.

On the property envisioned for sale are some old farming structures, a mobile home, and grain silo, Wollweber says.

He says he bought the property 21 years ago, and has been trying to develop it since then. He's been leasing it out for farming.

Water for homes built there would have to be supplied by private wells that would need to be drilled. The land is zoned for rural-traditional uses.