Council Derails Plan For Housing Project Annexation May Be Zoned Industrial
Long-term plans to build hundreds of new homes northwest of town were set back late Tuesday as the City Council drastically altered a proposed 360-acre annexation.
“There is no need for any more residential growth,” Councilman Gus Johnson said. “It would put another burden on our schools … and city services in general would be stretched.”
The council did not approve the so-called Empire Center annexation, which includes land north of the new Harpers Inc. plant. Instead, the council unanimously moved to hold another public hearing on the matter, suggesting that the property be zoned only for light industrial use.
That’s a stark reversal from earlier council discussions on the matter. The decision angered Post Falls’ Schneidmiller family - owners of the property - but delighted opponents of runaway residential growth.
The Schneidmillers want zone changes that would allow more than 800 new homes at the site.
In an agreement two years ago with the Schneidmillers, Post Falls approved the annexation plan as part of an incentive to lure Harpers. Under the agreement, the city apparently cannot refuse annexation, but is agonizing over a suitable use for the property.
Tuesday’s vote to change zoning within the area to be annexed shocked Manuel Schneidmiller, who donated a 30-acre plant site to lure Harpers. The city has always understood that Empire Center would be developed as a planned residential community centered around Harpers, he said.
“This makes me feel like hell. It makes me feel as if these people (on the City Council) don’t know what an agreement is,” Schneidmiller said after the meeting. “They don’t want to follow the contract that they signed.”
Last month, the council tabled the annexation request, citing concern over a small tract of high-density housing and the lack of an adequate school site. At that time, no one on the council suggested annexing the property only for light industrial use.
“I consider this a victory for Post Falls,” said resident Michele Veale, who has lobbied the city to block the plans for hundreds of homes. “I don’t think at this time that kind of development is needed here.”
Even Veale considered Tuesday’s council action a political flip-flop from previous positions. It may be a sign that political pressure to halt home construction is taking hold.
For example, an initiative now circulating in town would impose a moratorium on home construction. Such a moratorium is something Johnson fought for last month, but lost.
Before the vote, Mayor Jim Hammond said yet another public hearing is necessary, because serious questions about the Schneidmiller plans remain unanswered.
“We need to bring (the land) into the city in a way that is not detrimental to us at this time,” Hammond said.
In other council action, plans for a new Super 1 Foods store at Idaho Street and Mullan Road were put on hold. The council asked the developer, John Young of Spokane, and store operator Ron McIntire of Coeur d’Alene, to landscape the property better.
Also, the council expressed concern over traffic the store would generate at the busy intersection.