Big turnout at hearings on growth expected

The battle over Kootenai County’s rural lands continues tonight as two developers will ask to change the growth plan to allow megaprojects in the countryside.

Anticipating hundreds of people, the County Commission is having the public hearing on the projects at North Idaho College’s Student Union Building so there is more room to accommodate the expected crowd.

Seattle-based Heartland wants to change the growth plan to allow for perhaps three luxury golf courses with a total of 1,350 homes overlooking Powderhorn Bay on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Riverside Development wants to transform a former cattle ranch south of Athol near the Silverwood Theme Park into Rickel Ranch, a town that would largely consist of homes priced at $150,000.

Commissioner Katie Brodie said it’s unknown whether the commission will make a decision tonight on either proposal, saying it will depend on whether it can get through the testimony.

In May, the county planning commission unanimously recommended denial of both requests to change the comprehensive plan, which is the foundation of land-use decisions.

The commission said it’s premature to amend the planning guide while it is undergoing a complete overhaul, a process that is likely to take 18 months.

The issue has become controversial and sparked the organization of several neighborhood groups battling a new trend to put gigantic housing developments in the county’s most rural areas.

Dennis Swartout of Spokane-based Riverside Development is disappointed in the planning commission hearings and accuses the neighborhood groups and Kootenai Environmental Alliance of orchestrating a filibuster, taking up all the testimony time. He recently sent an e-mail to local Realtors asking them to attend today’s hearing in support of Rickel Ranch. He characterized the opposition as “environmental extremists.”

“They want to stop growth regardless of how environmentally sound it is,” Swartout said Monday. “They don’t want anyone else to have a place to live or enjoy the amenities of life here. It’s discrimination against people who aren’t here yet.”

Barry Rosenberg of Kootenai Environmental Alliance said he didn’t organize the neighborhood groups but supports their stance.

As for the abundance of opposition, Rosenberg said it reflects how residents feel about preserving Kootenai County’s rural areas. He called Swartout’s e-mail inflammatory and misleading.

Swartout said the planning commission’s recommendation to wait for the new comprehensive plan is an unofficial moratorium on growth and that the county has had his application since January 2005.

“We feel they should evaluate our application based on the current law on books, not one in future,” he said. “The need for affordable housing is here now.”

Heartland Managing Director Steve Walker has spent the summer meeting with neighbors and recently amended the company’s proposal. Heartland is now asking the county to designate the property as rural instead of rural residential, which would reduce the number of homes per acre allowed by the county. The company argues that the designation is justified because the land is no longer viable for timber or agriculture.

“It reflects the input we’ve gotten from a lot of people,” Walker said. “We are trying to listen.”

Neighbor Susan Melka isn’t impressed. She said the change means nothing because they can still do the same proposed luxury golf retreat with the rural designation.

“It’s reached critical mass,” Melka said about residents’ fight to save rural areas. “People’s hearts are breaking.”