Proposed code hurts families

As a child, my family lived on a farm. My grandparents lived on the same farm, so we would often walk to visit them. My wife was also raised on a farm. Her uncle lived in a separate house and their extended family dined together. These were good times, not bad ones. The Unified Land Use Code proposed for Kootenai County will no longer allow for this arrangement on most rural properties.

Some may think this lifestyle is no longer important, but family values and close family associations are still alive and well here in the country. Many of our neighbors have a second house, typically for family members. Children come back home. Retirees return from the city.

By increasing the present minimum site area from 5 acres to the proposed 40 acres, and then requiring that roads be subtracted in the area calculation, the proposed code will require that 100 acres be owned just to add a house for grandma. That is not right, and it needs to be changed. The code should not be allowed to take this important lifestyle away from the next generation.

John McFaddin

Cataldo, Idaho