Plan Links Growth To Schools City Councilman Says Classroom Capacity Must Match Development

You can’t teach kids in an empty field, says Gus Johnson, Post Falls City Council member.

The way the city’s land-use plan is now written, Johnson worries that developers have a green light to build subdivisions without providing more than property for a school site.

So Johnson is proposing to tighten the city’s comprehensive land-use plan to say that the council may refuse a development if there aren’t enough classrooms for new students.

“We’ve created a loophole,” Johnson said. “When developers come in they can say there are school sites available, but I have not seen any students taught on school sites.”

Some builders and Concerned Businesses of North Idaho call the move a moratorium in disguise.

“It basically stops growth,” said Pat Raffe, executive director of Concerned Businesses.

City officials say that isn’t the case.

“We’re just trying to give another little helping hand with the schools,” Johnson said.

Mayor Jim Hammond said the change might not make any practical difference.

“I don’t want people to be misled,” Hammond said. “It’s still really up to the school district to say whether facilities are available to serve these kids.”

Now, school officials are saying the schools are full, although plans are being made to temporarily handle the overflow with portable classrooms. In the long-run, school officials are hoping to pass a $15.8 million bond issue on March 26 for a new school that should ease crowded conditions throughout the district.

Even if the schools aren’t adequate, Hammond said, the council can still approve developments. The comprehensive plan provides guidance, not regulations.

Raffe argues that the planning commission and the City Council usually base decisions on guidelines in the land-use plan.

It’s the same debate that delayed council approval of the city’s land-use plan last year.

At one point, the draft document was stripped of any language protecting schools. The final document said development may be refused if school facilities or sites are not available. The proposed amendment drops “or sites.”

Community watchdog Michelle Veale, who sat on the advisory committee for the city plan, said she was thrilled with the proposed change.

“The intent was not that sites would be available, but facilities would be available - actual places to put people,” Veale said. “There wasn’t a lot of support.”

Lori Barnes, veteran campaigner for school bond issues in Coeur d’Alene, is opposed to the amended plan as director of the North Idaho Building Contractors Association.

“The bottom line is this doesn’t solve the problem,” she said. “We have to attack the problem of school facilities head-on.”

Both Barnes and Raffe say the solution is to pass the bond levy, not stop growth. The building association plans to support the school bond issue and get involved in the campaign, Barnes said.

The business groups will testify at the upcoming public hearing on the plan amendments before the planning commission.

Other amendments include reducing the minimum lot size from five acres to a half acre in the city’s rural transition areas, and giving the City Council final say in approving special-use permits.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: What’s next? A public hearing on changes in the Post Falls comprehensive plan begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. A list of proposed changes is available in the city planning office.