SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Some people in Spokane Valley living near the Dishman Hills Natural Area aren't happy with their newest neighbor.
They say the private property was always left untouched so everyone could enjoy its natural beauty, but the new owners plan to build a home there.
Generations of Paul Swift's family have enjoyed living in this neighborhood on South Center Drive. Behind it is access to untouched natural beauty that many in the neighborhood have come to cherish.
"Deer were here everyday and turkey. That's the beauty of it," Swift said.
With plans to build a home there, the new owners needed to build a road for vehicle access to the property.
Swift said the owners offered to buyout bordering properties in order to build that road, but every neighbor refused.
"There's a reason they live here," Swift said. "It was to keep it the way it was."
The Spokane County website shows the property boundary reaches South Center Drive.
Over the weekend, crews began constructing the road from that access point, Swift said.
"You're building in a neighborhood where everyone is not happy with you," Swift said. "I don't know if I could do that."
He shared a photo with KREM of his two sons watching the crews work on the land they used to play in.
He said he knows his new neighbors aren't doing anything wrong but he is still sad to see it all go.
"It's kind of hard to explain to some of the kids in the area that it's private property up there, but they're like, 'They're destroying the forest,'" Swift said.
The property is listed as a rural conservation zone in Spokane County. That means the owners are perfectly within their rights to build a single family home there. The county even authorized a grading permit for the property last month.
"They do have the rights, but it's changed the landscape tremendously," Swift said. "It's just a bummer."