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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Subdivision Restrictions Split County Plan To Tighten Rules On Dividing Property Draws Spirited Comment

New draft rules for splitting up land are sparking plenty of division - in more ways than one.

Kootenai County has proposed changing the way landowners can carve up property in preparation for sale or development.

The new plan cuts to the heart of the county’s most divisive issue - growth - and is earning criticism from both sides of the debate.

Meanwhile, fear that those changes will make the process time-consuming and costly has landowners scurrying to divide property now.

Many critics from the development community say this plan is better than previous attempts to do the same thing.

“It’s the difference between being run over by a semitruck and being punched in the stomach,” said Michael Hunt of North Idaho Engineering.

The county wants to eliminate rules allowing landowners a one-time chance to cut property into quarters with no county oversight. Officials also would require approval to split any land into lots of 20 acres or smaller.

About 40 people commented on the plan Monday night during a hearing before county planning commissioners.

Some developers and engineers argue the proposal adds unnecessary rules, gives the county too much discretion and drives up land costs.

Currently, lots of 10 acres or more are exempt.

Other residents say the changes are so watered down from previous proposals they merely shrink loopholes once big enough to drive semitrucks through. Earlier proposals would have forced approval even for 160-acre lots.

“Right now we’re developing too fast with too few regulations,” said Jeff Coulter, coordinator for the Citizens Network for Responsible Growth. “As a landowner I know that once property is divided, it’s real easy to go to the next step and start selling it off.”

County planners say the reason for the change is simple: So much land is being divided without county oversight, it’s creating headaches for homebuyers and other public agencies and could create cumulative environmental problems.

But there are critics on all sides.

Shireen Hale, with the Panhandle Health District, said the draft seems to exempt storm-water management rules from many subdivisions.

Jim Meckel, of Meckel Engineering, said the change can double the cost and time it takes simply for a farm couple to split land it wants to give to its children.

And Wes Hanson, an environmentally minded resident, said the proposal still is too weak and will “doom rural land” by facilitating development. It’s doing that now, he said.

More than 5,200 acres have been split using this approach since 1992 and more than half of those divisions have come this year.

Developers insist it’s because residents fear the pending change.

Even environmentalists worry that the lag time between potential adoption of this plan and its implementation would allow too many new land splits to slip through the cracks. That lag time is expected to be 90 days.

County planners and commissioners will meet again to discuss the proposal in coming weeks.

, DataTimes