Ephrata open house held tonight

92 new homes proposed

By Lynne Lynch

Herald staff writer

EPHRATA - An open house to share details about a planned 92-home development in Ephrata is set for 6 p.m. tonight at the Ephrata City Hall.

The open house is before a 7 p.m. Ephrata Planning Commission meeting where a public hearing will be held about the 25-acre Parkside Estates development.

The Ephrata City Council will make a final decision on the development's application at a future meeting.

The proposed development is southeast of Columbia Ridge Elementary School and borders the Port of Ephrata airport to the west, said project property owner Jon McCreary of Wenatchee.

The property can be reached by driving east on Second or Third Avenue S.E., he said.

Site work for the development could start as early as this year or in 2009, McCreary said.

The price range for the lots hasn't been set, but the range will start at the lower end of the market and increase, McCreary said.

The planning commission will likely make a decision about whether to approve or deny the project's application tonight, said Ron Sell, Ephrata's community development director.

The project requires a narrower right-of-way for the streets, a change in lot width, greater setbacks, changes on handling stormwater and a new space between the sidewalks and streets, said project designer Steve Sletner of TEC Design, Inc.

Sletner said they will be asking for some leniency in a few small areas of the zoning code.

"But we strongly feel that staff agrees we're bettering the standards (rather) than asking for a compromise," he said.

He said the open house is intended to educate and inform residents and give them an opportunity to ask questions.

He said his company has engineered over 30 similar developments in the country working behind the Minneapolis-based Rick Harrison Site Design Studio.

The developments are accepted nationwide and not just an experiment, Sletner said.

He said the homes will reflect today's lifestyle with all homes having at least a two-car garage.

Other similar developments are also in Boise, Idaho; Billings, Mont., and Sequim, he said.