Right On Course Newly Completed Deer Park Golf Course Spurs On Considerable Development In The Small Town

Eighty years ago, Deer Park boomed with apples and logs. Fruit-pickers and red-necked laborers crammed Olson’s Hotel at the corner of Main and Crawford.

Trains came and went. Plank-board buildings mushroomed.

The downtown intersection is again jammed, but this time with auto traffic. Minivans come and go. Fast-food restaurants mushroom.

Deer Park is knee-deep in another boom, but the industry driving growth is a bit more leisurely than its predecessors.

Golf.

More than 500 homes are planned around the newly completed Deer Park Golf Course, a championship-quality 18-hole course on the same apple orchard land that nurtured the Arcadia packing plant.

The course is still marked with huge patches of dun-colored dirt, the future site of most of the homes.

But the scope of the planned development - which would increase by half the city’s current 900-unit housing stock - helped pull a bounty of big-town business into the 2,800-person community.

The city expects Deer Park’s population to double in 20 years.

New McDonald’s, Yoke’s and Subway stores and a large Chevy dealership greet travelers on U.S. Highway 395. The town’s first 24-hour gas station opened three months ago. Nails are selling faster than Copenhagen.

“This is the biggest (boom) since Arcadia orchards in 1910,” said Lawrence Zimmerer, the 89-year-old unofficial town historian.

New opportunities are popping up like corn. A shop selling computer games just opened. The newly formed arts commission is starting a community theater group.

“People are taking a little more pride in the community,” said Chuck Johnson, a tax consultant who heads the Chamber of Commerce. “Community involvement things seem to be getting more support.”

Most of Deer Park is extending a small-town welcome - single-pump handshake and a direct look in the eye - to growth.

The city, which expects population to double in 20 years, just finished a $3.5 million sewer improvement project and repaved the intersection of Main and Crawford.

It is considering moving the fairgrounds from a prime plot along Main Street to pasture land farther out of town and has a committee working to develop the airport.

The city is also talking to state traffic engineers about improving the 20 miles of Highway 395 between Deer Park and Spokane.

And residents like the newly available shopping choices.

“You may laugh, but it’s the best thing to be able to get gas after hours,” said Lisa Gardner.

The town saw $10 million in new construction in the last two years, and total assessed property value jumped from $59.1 million in 1994 to $80.3 million in 1996.

The growth baffles some, but seems natural to others. Land is relatively cheap, and utilities are available.

“It’s really only 15 minutes into any shopping you need,” said city planner Roger Krieger. “Who knows, maybe it’s because you can have wood stoves out here.”

Much of the new construction was at the $5 million golf course, which opened for business last summer. Twenty-eight homes have been built around the course.

The project was unveiled four years ago, but the original developer folded, selling the project to Tacoma’s Warren Development.

Warren finished the golf course and now plans to build about 430 more homes and condos within eight years, said project manager Gary Viert. Another 100-unit subdivision is planned across the street.

“Look around us,” said Viert, waving at the surrounding hills. “This is fabulous. Why wouldn’t you want to live here?”

The development, unlike most of the city’s homes, will be pricy.

Low-end is $150,000. A Walla Walla businessman recently asked about a $400,000 palace on the fairway, Viert said.

Most buyers have been out-oftowners, from around Eastern Washington and from California, Viert said. “We’re getting lots of snowbirds.”

Development is good for the tax base, say school and city planners. The higher the assessed value, the wider property tax pain is spread.

The school district recently passed its first construction bond issue in 18 years.

But the changes are bringing new problems. Traffic jams Highway 395. “Going into Spokane has gotten so much heavier,” said resident Penny Loomis.

“We used to have 1,000 cars a day out here,” said Scott Rasmussen, co-owner of Firehouse Pizza, pointing to the intersection of Crawford and Main.

“Now, it’s 1,200-1,300, I think. I used to have time to count cars. We’re too busy now.”

The school district hired off-duty cops to keep gang members away from the high school during September. The one-time $1,500 hiring was prompted by a gang-related incident last year.

The schools are nearing capacity. Administrators recently hired extra educators because classes were overloaded.

School budget director Wayne Leonard said he expected 1,630 student this fall. About 1,700 showed up.

“It’s easy to plan for 30-40 more kids a year,” said Leonard. “It’s not so easy for 100 kids. We’re going to be really carefully looking at what’s happening next year.”

The growth saddens some, who fear the small-town atmosphere is being wiped out.

“People aren’t as trusting as they used to be,” said Gardner, Rasmussen’s partner at Firehouse Pizza. “They demand service like this” - snap! - “big town delivery. Hey, we’re a small town.”

Even Krieger, the city planner who grew up in Deer Park, remembers a different city. “You had plenty of area to hunt. There wasn’t a house behind every tree.”

“People move to get away from their problems,” said Larry Barden, a 23-year resident. “But people bring their problems with them.”

With Spokane County slated for a population boom in the next 20 years, all agree that growth is inevitable. But the scope of the changes is surprising.

A developer is now considering a 60-acre commercial development at the south entrance of the golf course that would include a hotel, bank, restaurants and a grocery store.

“My question is, why all these houses, why out here?” asked Zimmerer, the town historian. “I can’t figure it out for the life of me.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (1 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: City hopes runway will bring in money Deer Park officials are hoping a World War II relic will be a 21st century moneymaker. The city-owned Deer Park airport has a pair of 6,100-foot runways, long enough to land B-17 bombers 50 years ago and 737s today. “If it sounds unusual for a small town, it is,” said Penny Loomis, a pilot and a member of the city’s economic development committee. The runway could land a 747, but Federal Express normally wants about 7,500-foot runways to be safe, a spokesman said. City officials hope to lure a major freight carrier to the airport by offering a large runway at prices smaller than those at Spokane International. Major industry at the airport, which is a mile east of downtown, would require sewer and water extensions. The airport is currently on a septic system. But there are a few other problems. The 1,600-acre airport has room to grow. Taxiways were just paved. “I’m a pilot and we consider it a jewel,” said Loomis. “There are no obstacles and it is never foggy.” Sixty aircraft are based at the airport, which services more than 10,000 flights a year. Most are small, privately owned planes. Jonathan Martin