In established parts of the MeadowWood at Liberty Lake subdivision, homes with three-car garages spread out over wide lots.


In newer parts of the same neighborhood, however, homes with living space stacked upon tandem garages, in which cars are parked in front of one another, are being constructed on much narrower parcels.


That portion of MeadowWood is a glimpse of the future of new-home development in the Spokane area, contends Jason Wheaton, president of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Construction Inc., an affiliate of MeadowWood developer Greenstone Corp.


Because of the Growth Management Act, which requires local governments to adopt land-use practices that limit sprawl, developers of new subdivisions sometimes will need to offer smaller lots to make projects pencil out, and builders will need to figure out how to put more house on those smaller parcels to satisfy customers demand for what they want in a home, Wheaton says.


The industry is going through some significant changes because of this, he says. Were trying to stay ahead of the process.


Not everyone in Wheatons industry agrees. Spokane home builder Craig Condron says there is still plenty of space left in the Spokane market for larger lots.


Its not necessary to go down to really skinny lots in the Spokane area because there are plenty of areas to expand yet, even under growth management, contends Condron, who is president of Condron Construction Inc. I dont know if Spokane is ready to have postage-stamp-sized lots forced on it.


When Wheaton talks about narrow lots, hes talking about parcels that are about 50 feet wide, which is comparable to the width of many of the lots in long-established urban neighborhoods throughout Spokane. In newer subdivisions, however, homes often have been built on lots that range in width from 65 feet to 80 feet or more.


Mark Johnson, director of marketing and sales for Greenstone, says the homes the company has built on narrow lots have sold at a pace comparable to that of its homes on wider lots. He and Wheaton attribute that partially to home designs that get the same amount of living space into a smaller footprint on a smaller lot.


How?


Greenstones draftsmen have worked on that on and off for the past few years, Johnson says.


Wheaton says many of the design alterations involve making more use of the footprint a garage takes.


In some cases, the new designs involve construction of tandem garages, rather than conventional side-by-side garages.


In some instances, a double-tandem garage is built that looks from the outside like a two-car garage, but actually could hold up to four vehicles, though usually homeowners use the extra two bays for storage, Wheaton says.


Another common adaptation has involved construction of additional living space above garages, rather than having the garage sit to the side of the living space or just out in front. Such space typically is used for one or more bedrooms, but also can be a multipurpose office or family room.


In designs that involve tandem garages with bonus rooms above, the garage often is built so that its flush with the front of the home, rather than protruding forward somewhat, as has been done for years on split-level homes.


By building garages flush with the front of the house, a subdivision doesnt look like a neighborhood full of garages, Wheaton says.


In addition to design of garage space, Johnson says, People need more square footage, and were going back to split levels.


Split-level homes, which were common decades ago but had fallen out of favor in recent years, provide more floor space on a smaller footprint, Wheaton says.


Greenstone is building homes on some smaller lots at MeadowWood to be able to offer homes in a price rangetypically between $140,000 and $160,000thats suitable to buyers who are looking to step up from entry-level homes. It still is able to build homes on larger lots throughout that subdivision, typically for prices ranging from $180,000 to $250,000.


In Seattle and Portland, cities in which growth-management rules have been in force for a number of years, some new residential construction has occurred on small lots, but most of it has occurred in the form of condominiums and townhouses, which are like small, attached homes.


Were not there yet, Wheaton says. In the future, well see that, but thats a ways off.