A 159-acre patch of sloping pastures and dense trees soon will be transformed into a whole new kind of growth.

Raeta — a planned development of 13 upscale homes sprinkled among horse barns, farm ponds and working fields — is slated for development early next year along the north side of Stull Road, a half-mile east of the Shawnee County line.

Douglas County commissioners approved a request Monday morning to rezone the property for development of suburban, estate-style homes.

The residences will sit on lots ranging from 5 to 12 acres, share a communal horse barn, grazing pastures and ponds and sell for anywhere from $500,000 to $750,000.

“The views out there — that is what it’s all about,” said Charlie Dominguez, a partner in Raeta, along with two businessmen from South Korea. “You can see for miles and miles and miles.”

But the site’s expansive views almost ended up being its downfall.

Members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission initially rejected the project’s zoning application. As part of their unanimous vote, planning commissioners said that the site was too far from the city of Lawrence or any other housing subdivision to merit such dense development.

Charles Jones, chairman of the County Commission, said that the Planning Commission’s reasoning was solid, grounded in policies outlined in Horizon 2020, the community’s comprehensive land-use plan.

“It’s sound planning,” he said. “It’s reasonable.”

But a majority of county commissioners welcomed the project.

Commissioners Bob Johnson and Jere McElhaney said that concerns about the proliferation of remote developments far away from Lawrence should be mitigated by other benefits.

The development’s lots will open onto a single street that empties onto Stull Road. Without the rezoning, Dominguez said, the lots likely would have been sold separately and developed without planning as a subdivision — a move that would have left the homes to share six driveways directly onto a sweeping curve along Stull Road, a stretch known for numerous accidents and at least four fatalities.

The project’s “safety aspect” clearly outweighs concerns about grouping homes in a remote, rural area, Johnson said.

“We should not use the rules to keep us from doing something that we all generally believe is better,” Johnson said.

Construction of Raeta’s internal road network should start by the end of the year, said Dominguez, of Lawrence. Lots should be ready for sale within a year.