POULSBO — Soon more than Wal-Mart, The Home Depot and a varied cross section of businesses will call the Olhava development home.

Quadrant Homes of Bellevue has taken the lead in residential building in the area with the 185-unit Parkside Planned Unit Development.

The 185 units mark a reduction from the originally proposed 230 units in the Olhava Master Plan for the 41.25 acres bounded by State Highway 3, Viking Avenue and Finn Hill Road.

An additional 260 homes are planned for the areas on the southwest corner of the Olympic College-Poulsbo campus and to the east of the campus.

Quadrant Homes vice president of marketing William Boucher said the developer is excited about being able to provide housing in a quality, rapidly expanding area like Poulsbo.

“We will certainly bring our reputation, quality, customer service and choices in housing,” Boucher said.

The development is still in the planning stages, so it is too early to guess what the price range will be, Boucher said. However, the homes are expected to be on the market some time in 2007.

“Residential was part of the master plan idea,” said City Planning Director Barry Berezowsky. “The plan was always to develop it over a period of time.”

The plan included a commercial area, business park and housing component, and the market dictated which came first, Berezowsky said, adding that in this case, it was the commercial side of things.

Even though the exact look of residential development in the area has yet to be seen, the Parkside development will provide an indication, he said.

“It’ll give us an idea of what to expect with other residential land to be developed,” he said.

City officials are working to blend the development into the rest of the city through the Design Review Board and its guidelines, Berezowsky said.

Due to the location, the subdivision could have a major impact on the Viking Avenue corridor, said Councilman Mike Regis.

“I think along Viking Avenue the big ticket items are going to convert to mixed uses,” Regis said. “You’re going to see more townhomes and residential services.”

The residents of the 185 homes will provide an influx of customers seeking different types of services than those currently existing in the Viking Avenue corridor, he said.

“Viking Avenue is a sleeper zone, and this plays into the residential renaissance that is going on,” he said.

The subdivision also helps the city meets the population allocation in its 1995 Comprehensive Plan and fulfills the development’s master plan, which included a residential component, Regis said.

“The master plan has given us predictability,” Berezowsky said. “Because of the master there has not only been organized growth, but a plan for services in the area in terms of sewer, water, storm water and transportation.”

With the plan in place the city has been able to do things in a comprehensive manner, rather than piecemeal, he said.

However, Quadrant Homes isn’t the only developer with residential plans for Olhava, he said.

“The county housing authority is looking at the multi-family area east of the college,” Berezowsky said.

Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority spokeswoman Sarah Lee confirmed that the organization is interested in housing opportunities in the Olhava area, but doesn’t have any specific plans at the present time.

“There’s always been a need for affordable housing in Poulsbo, and the need gets greater each day,” Lee said, adding the housing authority is interested in building about 100 units in Olhava in what would be a mixed-income development, including both rentals and market-rate homes.

While the development is a “city within a city,” city officials are working with Kitsap Transit on the possibility of having a Poulsbo loop route, which will take riders to all of the major areas of the city on a single route, he said.

“People will be able to park their cars and go to Viking Avenue, up to the college, to downtown and back to Poulsbo Village if they want to, or vice versa,” Berezowsky said.