Grow with care
A quarter of a century ago, business as usual in the city of Coeur d’Alene was turned on its head when developer Terry Phillips proposed building two towers of condominiums on the current site of The Coeur d’Alene Resort. Outraged, Coeur d’Alene residents turned to a four-man city government ticket, headed by Jim Fromm, to protect their magnificent lake vistas and access.
The Save Our Shoreline ticket – Fromm and council members Steve McCrea, Jim Michaud and Bob Brown – tried valiantly to do that. With a veto-proof majority, they passed an ordinance to regulate shoreline construction. The measure still stands.
The Fromm administration was responsible for negotiating with the Hagadone Corp. for a planned unit development that allowed resort owner Duane Hagadone to exceed shoreline height restrictions in exchange for increased views of the lake and public access to the resort boardwalk. In his final days in office, however, Fromm looked at the resort from his City Hall office and said sarcastically: “We certainly saved the shoreline, didn’t we?”
Fromm was too hard on himself.
The city owes much to the “Gang of Four” for providing an environmental consciousness toward the waterfront. Attempts to bring rowdy hydroplane racing back to Lake Coeur d’Alene have been turned back twice. The legacy of an unfettered waterfront can be seen in the commitment by Mayor Sandi Bloem’s current administration to keep fences and barricades off Sanders Beach. Now, Bloem and her council would be wise to heed the call by the city planning commission for a moratorium on downtown high-rises until standards can be studied.
On one hand, city officials and planners are right to promote multistory condominiums as the best way to revitalize the downtown area. Full- and part-time residents in condos downtown are key to revitalizing the central business core. They’re the ones who will spur downtown business by patronizing restaurants, coffee shops and retail outlets when the tourists are gone. They’ll also create a need for business that caters to a stable population.
On the other hand, Coeur d’Alene officials must be careful not to destroy downtown by allowing high-rises willy-nilly. The 18-story Coeur d’Alene Resort and 15-story McEuen Terrace dominate the skyline. And, after calling for the moratorium, the planning commission approved special-use permits for an 18-story tower on Front Avenue and a seven-story condominium building on Sherman Avenue. Meanwhile, Hagadone is working on plans for a second tower for his nearby resort.
Along with the new library, the condominium projects will revitalize downtown Coeur d’Alene. Much will depend on what the Bloem administration and city planners do to make certain the tall buildings don’t come at the expense of Coeur d’Alene’s distinct aesthetic character.