Rockford Bay Development Sunk Residents Happy, Surprised County Turned Down Home-Building Project

Builders who have lost the fight for a mammoth subdivision south of Rockford Bay say it’s too soon to know if they will try their luck again.

Kootenai County commissioners Wednesday vetoed a plan by a California development group to build 279 singlefamily homes on the west side of Lake Coeur d’Alene, 17 miles south of here.

Commissioners said the project - angrily referred to by neighbors as the biggest city between Coeur d’Alene and Moscow - would bring too much development to the farming community at one time.

“It’s a beautiful piece of property in a rural area, a long ways from any infrastructure,” said Commissioner Dick Compton. “This project was just too big.”

More than 140 people spoke out or wrote letters in opposition to the project since it was proposed a year ago. Most complained of its size. Others said the lots were too small and too close together, giving the project an urban feel.

“We have 10- and 20-acre lots around here,” said David Fish, a grass farmer and mechanic who lives next to the 251-acre development site. “People wouldn’t have minded so much if they had tried that.”

Disappointed partners with Sun Up Bay Associates of Chico., Calif., said the urbanlike densities were actually more appropriate for a rural area. The project already had been scaled back from 325 homes.

“It doesn’t take up nearly as much space,” said developer Joe Hardy.

Sun Up partners may re-work the project and resubmit their proposal. They have not decided.

Wednesday’s proposal was the first large controversial development plan to go before the new, all-Republican board.

“You hate to turn any of them down, knowing the time and energy they put into it,” Compton said. “But if the impact is too great, you just have to.”

Neighbors were pleasantly surprised by the action.

“It’s real encouraging,” Fish said. “It was really good news.”