Public Media for Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

Planning Commission Greenlights Blue Sky Estates

Dean Swope

The Bethel Planning Commission approved the Blue Sky Estates Subdivision last week. It's a project that Lyman Hoffman has been working for almost a decade to develop.

“There’s been a crying need in Bethel area for new housing,” said Hoffman. “It’s a positive move, I think, for Bethel and the citizens to see the City of Bethel to continue to grow.” 

The proposed subdivision would have 88 lots and would surround the existing Larson subdivision like a giant horseshoe. The preliminary plat now goes to Bethel City Council for approval. Once the council gives the nod, Hoffman says that the next step will be getting a final plat approved, with plans for a park as well as house lots, before doing the work of building infrastructure.

“What this will entail will be a road compacted to high specifications with at least 5 inches of gravel, and culverts and electricity to go around the area. The individual purchaser will decide if they want a sand pad. If they don’t want a sand pad, how they want to develop it. So it’s designed for maximum flexibility for the purchaser.”

If all goes well, Hoffman hopes to offer approximately 1,100 square-foot house lots for sale by late summer or fall. The 22-acre Blue Sky Estates Subdivision is only the beginning. Hoffman has 125 more acres that he would like to subdivide and develop.

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Johanna Eurich's vivid broadcast productions have been widely heard on National Public Radio since 1978. She spent her childhood speaking Thai, then learned English as a teenager and was educated at a dance academy, boarding schools and with leading intellectuals at her grandparents' dinner table in Philadelphia.