Planning for the transformation of a mining and excavation facility near the 256th Street exit of state Route 18 is well underway — to the point drivers may well see new businesses go up along the highway before the end of 2015.

Developing a subarea plan for that chunk of property is vital because many potential businesses which the city and residents want can’t find enough space in Covington’s downtown core. This land could provide enough room for business as well as a mix of homes the city doesn’t have such as apartments and townhouses.

Known as the Hawk Property, the 210 acre site which is in the city of Covington for the most part, the real estate along SR 18 is ideally suited for redevelopment to help meet the needs of the growing city. The Hawk family is in the process of selling the property to Oakpointe LLC, a partnership between homebuilder Oakpointe Communities and YarrowBay Holdings.

In order to figure out what would be best for the property Covington staff set out in December, with the blessing of the City Council, to begin work on a subarea plan after King County decided property on the other side of SR 18 known as the Northern Notch would not be brought into the urban growth area boundary in order to be developed.

Since the start of the year, explained Richard Hart, the city’s community development director, Covington staff worked with a consultant to host public meetings in order to develop a subarea plan for the Hawk property.

A public forum was convened March 25 which included more than three dozen residents who were broken up into groups, Hart said. All of the features, constraints, and features of the property were explained.

“We then gave them some parameters of high and low, or a maximum and minimum of development of residential uses and regional commercial retail uses,” Hart said. “Then we gave them some standards for parks and open space. Then we said, ‘OK, now you get to play planner and you get to put those (elements) wherever you want on the site.’”

For the next 90 minutes, Hart said, the groups did just that in what he described as an engaging process.

“There were differences of opinion at each of these tables,” Hart said. “There were some people who wanted no development. Other people wanted lots and lots of parks and there were some people wanted higher density because they knew those other amenities could be built into the development. They had to eventually compromise and what they did is come up with four or five different plans.”

Throughout the discussion there were a number of common themes in all the plans. Ultimately, it was important to have resident input, Hart said, so the consultant and city staff weren’t guessing at what the community may want there.

“The reason for this exercise, which is really critical, is we don’t want the city staff saying, ‘This is what we think it should be,’” Hart said. “Or the consultant to say, ‘This is what we think it should be.’ And the City Council needs guidance. The ultimate goal of this project is to come up with a subarea plan.”

Covington is using what Hart described as a more logical approach by developing a subarea plan along with a planned action environmental impact statement.

The idea behind this strategy is to plan for the entire chunk of the Hawk property before a shovel is turned rather than doing it piecemeal. That way city staff, the developer, potential business tenants and residents all know what will can be built as well as how it will be accomplished.

While this means there is a fair amount of work at the front end of the project, Hart said, it means that as long as the developer follows the plan then it doesn’t have to go through a SEPA application for each phase of the development. In essence, it provides a blueprint, and that should allow the development to proceed more smoothly once work begins.

Hart said the plan is to complete this process so that it could go to City Council in December or January. In the meantime, there will be several more opportunities for residents to offer their thoughts on the matter. On Friday the city will issue two documents and will take public comment on them for 30 days. There is a hearing on the topic scheduled for the Aug. 15 Planning Commission meeting.

Staff will respond to those comments, Hart said, then in October a final subarea and EIS will be issued. After that, additional public comment can be made, with the Planning Commission getting those documents in the fall to review and make a final recommendation to City Council, which will also host a hearing to take additional input from residents.

“This is the first opportunity that our community has had … in 16 years, to actually do a plan for such a large undeveloped area,” Hart said. “When we incorporated (in 1997) we already had our subdivisions developed and we had our strip malls. Now we have a chance to take 210 acres and how are we going to develop this in the future. This is going to meet our future needs for a lot of residential and regional commercial development for the next 20 years.”

It is an exciting project, Hart said, particularly for anyone who is a professional city planner. It will also build on the two main elements of the city’s economic engine: the city as a hub for commercial retail and healthcare services in Southeast King County.

It is possible that companies such as Lowe’s and Target, which have expressed interest in locating in Covington, as well as other businesses and restaurants which are family friendly could build on the Hawk Property to fill a substantial gap in the market for the region — both Covington and neighboring Maple Valley have a number of families, both with more than 30 percent of the population under 18.

When motorists drive by on SR 18, Hart said, they will see the regional commercial businesses because it’s closest to the highway and the land there is flat as well level making it ideal for construction. Eventually, to see the homes, drivers would get off the highway at the 256th exit then drop down onto a collector arterial which will be the first thing that will need to be built.

“Hopefully by March of 2014 that development agreement will be in place and it commits the development to what they’re going to do for the next 15 years of this plan,” Hart said. “Once we’re finished with this next spring, the next step is the developer will come in and build the road … it will take them about a year to actually construct this major collector arterial roadway. They envision coming in 2015 with the major regional commercial development. The developer that wants to develop this property is paying the cost of all of this, the subarea plan and EIS, all the city is doing is managing the process.”

It’s a process the developer, Oakpointe, is pleased with thus far, according to Colin Lund.

“We’ve been frankly impressed by the city and their ability to process the subarea plan and pull together the whole consultant team,” Lund said. “They’ve done a good job. We, as Oakpoint, are particularly excited about the property and its potential and working with the city to bring their vision to fruition.”