Permit sought for trailer lot

COEUR d’ALENE – A Chilco man doesn’t think Kootenai County should shut down his business just because his used trailer home sales yard may be an eyesore along U.S. Highway 95.

“It’s not a popularity contest,” Larry Spencer told the Kootenai County Commission on Thursday.

His attorney, Ian Smith, said Spencer is running a legitimate business. He sells the homes to people in Bonner and Boundary counties, because many of the trailers are too old to comply with Kootenai County and Washington state standards.

“Activity on commercial property isn’t always pretty,” Smith said, adding that the property has had many commercial uses ranging from a log home business to a tavern.

Spencer is asking for a special-notice permit needed to legally operate the sale yard in a commercial zone along the highway.

The county has fought with Spencer for the past year, asking him to bring the illegal sale yard into compliance or remove the mobile homes, many of which have broken-out windows and no doors. The county filed a lawsuit against Spencer last year. Now Spencer is asking for the permit.

Spencer’s Chilco neighbors told the commission the homes are uninhabitable eyesores that blight the landscape near Chilco Falls, a county park. One neighbor said he sees flashlights in some of the trailers at night and fears transients are sleeping in the hollow homes and could set fires or cause other damage to nearby property.

John Janke, who owns Rimrock Golf Course just north of the sale yard, said Spencer’s business doesn’t fit in with the area.

“Almost everyone who comes in there asks, ‘What is that mess down the street?’ ” Janke said.

The commission will make a decision on the permit next Wednesday. For more information, call 446-1070.