Our View: Proceed with care
It wasn’t that long ago that elected officials and chamber of commerce representatives would be giddy about landing a high-end residential development like ones now proposed around Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Maybe most of them still would be.
But residents who are fighting high property valuations in booming Kootenai County don’t share their enthusiasm. Rather, they are banding together to fight proposed developments, like Chateau de Loire Golf and Lake Club, overlooking Moscow Bay, and the planned expansion of the fashionable Black Rock subdivision.
Earlier this month, 350 residents packed a Kootenai County commission hearing room to protest plans by a Las Vegas developer to build Chateau de Loire, a French-themed subdivision of 450 homes and condos and an 18-hole golf course on the rural east side of the lake.
About 200 angry residents attended each of two recent hearings of the Kootenai County Zoning Commission for developers seeking comprehensive plan changes to transform farm fields, meadows and timberland along the lake into exclusive subdivisions. Another 200 responded to the Kootenai Environmental Alliance call to oppose Black Rock North on Thursday night.
County commissioners and planners should proceed with caution.
Rather than grant changes to the comprehensive plan that could dramatically alter the face of rural Kootenai County, they should wait for the document to be rewritten over the next 18 months. In other instances, where a giant proposal conforms to the comprehensive plan or current zoning, county officials should place tough conditions on it to address public concerns before granting approval. They face the unenviable task of guiding growth in an anti-growth climate.
County commissioners can’t shut down growth, although some constituents would like them to do so. Prospective buyers are looking for the same pristine setting that Kootenai County residents enjoy. Builders have a right to meet that demand for high-end housing by developing their property, within the guidelines of planning codes and the comprehensive plan. But they shouldn’t be allowed to foist major infrastructure costs created by their projects on county residents.
A good case could be made that windy state Highway 97 along the eastern edge of Lake Coeur d’Alene can’t handle the increased traffic from the proposed Chateau de Loire and Gozzer Ranch subdivisions without a substantial upgrade. Another case can be made that the East Side Fire District would be spread too thin if some 3,000 homes were added to the rural lakeside area. Providing emergency services to the new developments would be a problem, too.
In the past, developers of upscale rural property had leverage when they approached county officials with grandiose plans that would add millions of dollars worth of property to the tax rolls. Now, however, they’re viewed warily by local residents as being partly responsible for driving county property assessments skyward. Kootenai County officials should be cautious not to compromise the revision of the comprehensive plan by approving too much too soon.