Over the past two decades, Erik Petersen has built around 90 homes on Powell’s south end. Over the coming decades, Peterson is envisioning the construction of another 200 houses that would extend the city’s boundaries to the south.

Preliminary plans for his Peak View Subdivision were presented to the Powell Planning and Zoning Commission at an April 28 meeting. The plans call for the first 25 lots to be built on the south side of Monroe Street — running from just east of Southside Elementary School/Day Street to County Road 8H. Future phases would then be constructed further south.

Depending on how many people move to Powell and how quickly, it could take anywhere between 20 and 40 years to fully develop the entire subdivision, Petersen told the commission.

“Forty years at the rate I’m going,” Petersen said, referring to the 90-some homes he’s built in the southeast part of town since 2008, “but it could turn into 20 years if we have the rate that we’ve had in the last five years.”

Peak View’s plans were cheered by longtime commission member John Campbell. He said the board has been concerned for some time that Powell is “just stretching out along Highway 14A,” only growing east and west.

“It’s nice to see people going south,” Campbell said. “It kind of takes away from that big, long, linear town that we were starting to develop.”

The commission’s discussion was only preliminary and was not any kind of approval. Multiple details still need to be hashed out and groundbreaking remains a ways away.

For example, the first batch of lots are tentatively designed to be 6,000 square feet, which is the smallest size allowed under city ordinance. However, Petersen is hoping the city council will consider allowing smaller corner lots (roughly 4,440 square feet in the first phase). Splitting up those lots is “the only way you're going to get that house at $15,000 cheaper,” Petersen said.

The city currently has an “affordable small lot exception” that allows for corner lots to be split to as small as 3,500 square feet — but only if they’re “within the original townsite of Powell.” City Building Official Ben Hubbard said the exception could be expanded to include new developments.

“Not everybody has the mindset of me, of trying to keep a house affordable: Lots of people want their big corner lots, so they’re not going to do it,” Petersen said. “But it would be an option for anybody that has a new subdivision that has a vacant lot on the corner.”

The planning commission didn’t make a formal recommendation to the council, but seemed open to the idea.

“I think it’s compatible with a lot of other things we’ve done in terms of trying to increase density close to town and also make more housing available,” said commission member Ronn Smith.

One challenge for the development is a large underground drain that could interfere with the sewer lines. The preliminary plans call for the installation of a siphon beneath the drain, but both Petersen and city officials are hoping to avoid that, as siphons can be a challenge to maintain.

Though no final decisions have been made by the city council, staff are proposing a new 15-inch sewer main south of Monroe Street to accommodate future development to the south. The roughly $500,000 project — which city staff hopes to complete by the summer of 2026 — would also obviate the need for a siphon.

“If I can wait six months and avoid the siphon, then I will do that,” Petersen said.

Discussions will continue between the developer and city officials as his plans and their budget progress.