Royal City to see new housing development

ROYAL CITY — Royal City will have some new housing opportunities soon.

“There's going to be single- to two-family, four-family and multifamily components of this project, and then (also) some public dedication for continuing an existing pathway,” said Sara Prather, the land development manager for CAD Homes, which is developing the project.

Royal City City Planner Alex Kovach presented the preliminary plat submittal for phase 1 of what’s called the Pratt Hills Development at the Royal City City Council meeting Tuesday evening. The proposed development is located on the north side of the canal between the end of Poplar Street and Ahlers Avenue. Phase 1 would consist of 24 single- to two-family lots, according to the plan, five two- to four-family residential lots and one larger lot reserved for multi-family use. The homes will be similar in design and price to the ones CAD has put up in other communities like George and Mattawa, said CAD Homes owner Drew Scott.

This isn’t CAD’s first project in Royal City, Prather said.

“We've done three other subdivisions in Royal City in prior years,” she said. “We've done the one directly to the east on Hargraves Avenue, as well as Kimberley and Alice streets. And so we're familiar with developing in the area; we like developing in the area.”

Plans for this development began about a year ago when CAD met with city officials in October 2022. The land is currently owned by Kent and Karen Pratt of Royal City, according to county records.

“There is a purchase and sale agreement in place,” Prather said. “So by the time we file final plat for this current phase, it will be owned by CAD. And then we are working with the Pratts — they've been wonderful to work with – so we have the option to purchase additional land to develop, if all goes as planned.”

CAD already has a waitlist on its website for prospective purchasers, Prather said. She wasn’t sure how many people were on it, she added. However, a similar development in George sold very quickly, CAD Construction Manager Chris Lacelle told the Columbia Basin Herald in June.

“At one point we couldn’t build them fast enough,” he said.

One thing that’s different about the Pratt Hills development is the treatment of stormwater, Prather said.

“In our prior subdivision to the east is an infiltration pond and both we and the city weren't very pleased with how that looked,” she said. “So we decided to spend some time running some numbers, rerouting that stormwater into this new development. We're going to backfill (the old stormwater pond), turn it into two single-family lots.”

That stormwater will instead be rerouted into a space in the multi-family area, she said, while another stormwater detention area would be located at the southwest end of the development and would receive stormwater from the single-, two- and four-family lots.

The City Council will review the documents submitted Tuesday and vote on them in November, according to Mayor Michael Christensen. If the preliminary plans are approved then, Prather said, it will take a couple of months to complete the engineering and the company can break ground in early 2024, weather permitting.

The development comes at a time when many small towns are in need of affordable housing. A search on the real estate website Zillow.com turned up no homes for sale and only one for rent in Royal City. Affordable housing is an important factor in a thriving community, Christensen said.

“I think, in a rural community, there's always a pull to live outside of city limits, and that's understandable,” he said. “But there's some benefits and blessings of living inside city limits. So as we have more opportunities that allow people to at least consider the possibility of living closer to schools and different services, I think it helps our city generally, if we have adequate housing.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.