City of Spokane Hearing Examiner Greg Smith has approved a preliminary plat request by Spokane developer Harlan Douglass for a 231-unit housing development in the Indian Trail neighborhood on the North Side.

The development, called Hunt's Pointe, is planned on 50 acres of land west of Indian Trail Road about 1.5 miles north of Francis Avenue.

Douglass was unavailable for comment. Documents filed with the city show the developer plans to subdivide the property at 8233 N. Indian Trail into 183 lots for single-family homes and 24 lots for duplexes. The single-family component of the project is one of the largest approved in the city this year.

One of the city's conditions of approval requires that the developer reserve a 15-foot-wide strip of land where the development site fronts Indian Trail Road for additional right of way to accommodate addition of an outside southbound lane later, Smith says in a written decision.

Douglass has agreed to voluntary impact-fee assessments of $672 for each single-family home and $416 for each dwelling unit in the duplexes to be collected before each building permit is issued, the decision says.

The fees will be dedicated for planned improvements on a one-mile stretch of Indian Trail, from Barnes Road, which is north of the Hunt's Pointe property, to Kathleen Avenue, which is south of the planned development, Smith's decision says. Those improvements will include a traffic signal on Indian Trail Road between Pacific Park Drive and Kathleen, it says.

Hunt's Pointe will have four access points. Two of them will be onto Indian Trail, one in the west will be onto Pamela Court, and one in the north will be onto Pacific Park Drive.

Properties to the north and west of the subdivision are developed for single-family residences. Douglass also owns vacant land on the east side of Indian Trail that's zoned for multifamily uses. A portion of the former Northside Landfill abuts the south edge of the development.

Ken Pelton, a city planner, says the planning staff hasn't received word yet on when Douglass hopes to break ground on the project. The preliminary plat approval would expire in five years if he doesn't proceed before then, Pelton says.

Farther north in the Indian Trail neighborhood, at 5420 W. Barnes Road, Douglass also is developing Windhaven, a residential project that includes 286 single-family homes and 212 apartment units. That complex is located west of Indian Trail and just north of the Sundance Plaza shopping center.