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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Citizens panel to help reach consensus on land-use rules

A frustrated Kootenai County Commission gave in Wednesday and agreed to let a citizens advisory group try to figure out how to make everyone happy when it comes to dividing and classifying land.

Commission Chairman Dick Panabaker said the board feels trapped and that the rewriting of the subdivision and zoning rules has turned into a monster. Panabaker said the commission should have made a decision long ago before it splintered by endless public hearings and comment periods that have led nowhere.

“This has come back to bite us big time,” he said.

But the commission is willing to give the 12-member citizens group a tight time-frame to review the two documents and come up with suggestions. The commission is insistent that it must make a final decision before January, when newly-elected Commissioner Katie Brodie replaces Panabaker.

“It will be a great New Year’s resolution to have that document done,” Commissioner Gus Johnson said. “We’re doing something out of the ordinary. We don’t ever want to be accused of not listening to the public.”

The citizens group is exactly what a rare combination of environmentalists, builders and land developers begged for to remedy what they call the commission’s refusal to involve the public in the drafting of these two laws.

And they are confident that their groups, who normally don’t agree on much, can come to some kind of consensus that will prevent more development sprawl that eats up rural areas and also keep construction costs down.

“It’s absolutely possible,” said Pat Raffee of the North Idaho Building Contractors Association. “Everyone is highly motivated to get a better ordinance.”

The advisory group will consist of three people chosen by NIBCA and the Association of Realtors and three people picked by Kootenai Environmental Alliance and the League of Women Voters of Kootenai County. Three Kootenai County Planning Commission members also will serve on the committee along with three members of the general public chosen by the County Commission.

The groups have until 5 p.m. Friday to submit their members. The commission will announce the new committee Oct. 13 and figure out when the group will meet, which could be up to three times a week.

The commission wants Coeur d’Alene attorney Jerry Mason, who represents many local cities, to mediate. NIBCA plans to collect the cash, perhaps from all the participating organizations, to pay Mason. It’s unknown how much it might cost.

Kootenai County Planning Director Rand Wichman said the advisory group probably will have until the end of November to come up with a proposal. The commission wants to have a public hearing Dec. 22, meaning the public must have access to the proposal about 20 days before.

The commission will make the final decision on any changes to the subdivision or zoning rules.

Barry Rosenberg of KEA agrees that the advisory group can come up with something better than what the county has so far presented.

“We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it would work,” he said. “It’s a huge time commitment and lots of work.”

Some of the major contentious points in the proposed changes are whether to restrict building on the county’s steep hillsides and how many homes can be built in transition areas between rural and urban zones.