Airway Heights LLC, a Spokane-based development company, has proposed a 225-acre mixed-use development in the city of Airway Heights that eventually could include up to 1,200 housing units, a neighborhood shopping center, and community parks, the developments planners say.


To be called Hunters Crossing, the development would be constructed over 20 years, says Cathy Ramm, president of Ramm Associates Inc., of Spokane, which prepared the master plan for the development. Work tentatively is scheduled to start next spring.


The project area, which is located in the northwest corner of Airway Heights, is bounded by 12th Avenue on the south, Sprague Road on the north, Zeigler Street on the east, and Craig Road on the west. The Landreth Family Trust owns the property, and Airway Heights LLC has an option to buy the land if it can get its development plans approved, Ramm says.


The Airway Heights City Council is scheduled to decide in October whether to approve the preliminary plat for Aspen Grove, the first phase of the big project, a 90-unit subdivision for manufactured homes on 17 acres of land at the northwest corner of Zeigler and 12th, says Garrett Smith, Airway Heights city planner. Before making a decision on the project, the city wants to ensure that its streets, water system, and other utilities can handle the growth the proposed development would bring, Smith says. After early reviews, however, the City Council and planning commission have indicated the proposal fits well with the citys desire to provide affordable housing north of U.S. 2, he says.


The conceptual master plan for Hunters Crossing includes a mix of residential uses, Ramm says.


Including the 17-acre Aspen Grove, more than 100 acres are designated to become subdivisions, providing a combined total of nearly 530 single-family homes, she says. Some of the subdivisions would be designed for manufactured homes, and others would have stick-built homes.


In addition, the Hunters Crossing development would have an additional 32 acres of manufactured-home parks where homeowners could lease pads for manufactured homes, 10 acres set aside for duplexes, eight acres for townhouses, and a 13-acre site for apartments, Ramm says. In all, those areas would have room for roughly 670 residences. Curving, tree-lined streets would provide access through the development.


Also under the plan, an 11-acre commercial site along Craig eventually would accommodate offices and a neighborhood shopping center. The plan also calls for about nine acres to be set aside for a school, and 17 acres to be used for three community parks and a system of greenbelts and pedestrian pathways that would link all areas of the development, Ramm says.


Planning for Hunters Crossing has been under way for about year, says Rick Richard, who owns Airway Heights LLC with partners Kevin Gunder and Eric Tucker. Richard says that he and Gunder, who grew up together, have recognized Airway Heights as a growing community with plenty of affordable, developable land. Each of the partners has developed small projects in Spokane, but this is the first time all three have worked together, Richard says.


The extension of utilities, demands of the market, and interest from potential development partners will guide the order in which phases at Hunters Crossing are developed, Richard says. The limited-liability company is seeking developers and builders for the development, he says.