Invisible Border The Valley Is Becoming A Residential Community For Workers In North Idaho As Well As Spokane

For years, Spokane Valley residents have traveled west to work in Spokane.

But recent business growth in the other direction is turning the Valley into a bedroom community for North Idaho workers as well.

“I really don’t feel a significant change when I’m driving across the state line,” said Mike Lopez, Valley resident and the director of Emergency Medical Services for Kootenai County.

Employment opportunities in the Post FallsRathdrum area have nearly tripled in the last several years, according to the Idaho Department of Employment.

At companies with at least 50 employees, there were 1,410 jobs in 1988. Last year, there were 3,537.

And that doesn’t include the many smaller businesses that have opened in Post Falls, said Kathryn Tacke, a state labor market analyst.

One of the larger companies that opened in Post Falls is Harpers Kimball International, with about 500 employees.

The furniture manufacturing plant draws half of its workers from each side of the state line.

Bob Potter is president of Jobs Plus, a Coeur d’Alene-based business recruitment agency that took part in a regional approach to lure Harpers and other companies to the area.

“We even had state of Washington training funds being used for a company in Idaho,” he said of Harpers.

“The border really is transparent. That’s good,” Potter said. “It makes us a powerful region.”

But it wasn’t quite enough to bring Micron Technology Inc. to Kootenai County.

Potter and others were poised to embrace Micron and the 3,000 to 4,000 high-paying jobs it would have brought to Post Falls.

Although the Boise-based company recently decided not to expand here, that doesn’t spell the end of job growth and the ties connecting Spokane and the Spokane Valley to North Idaho.

Pat Porter, a sales associate at Tomlinson Valley Inc., said that she’s noticed an increase in Idaho workers shopping for Valley houses in the last two years.

“I do think we’re seeing more people who choose to live here,” she said.

Porter said that she’s sold to four Harpers employers.

“From Cheney to Coeur d’Alene, we are one economic unit,” said Ray Murphy, executive director of the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce. “There happens to be a state line running roughly through the middle of that economic unit.

“People are going to spread out for a variety of reasons,” Murphy said. “This area appeals to them, this school district, or that shopping center.”

Brenda Bull, chief radiation therapist at North Idaho Cancer Center, chose to live in the Valley to stay closer to her parents.

A mother of three children, she said that the Valley school districts weren’t as crowded as those in Coeur d’Alene.

She and other Idaho commuters said that even if the distance is greater, it’s actually easier driving east to Idaho from the Valley than west into Spokane during rush hour.

“It’s less of a hassle,” Bull said. “It’s real easy to just get off the freeway.”

But some of the drawbacks of working across the border include the tax structure.

Bull said, “I kinda get gouged from both sides.”

These Washington residents pay Idaho state income tax in addition to a higher Washington state sales tax. Plus they have to register their vehicles in Washington, which costs more than in Idaho.

Gerry Cooper has lived in the Valley for the last eight years, and has worked as the office manager at Post Falls Ambulance for more than two years.

“The Valley’s finally getting big enough where it’s got enough services to be its own community,” she said. “It’s a great place in between Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.”

Cooper said that she does most of her shopping in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene because she’s closer to them than to Spokane’s North Side malls.

Valley resident Lopez said, “We go to Silver Lake Mall as much as we do NorthTown simply because it’s closer to our home.”

Because he works there, Lopez said that he spends much of his time in Kootenai County.

But after work, he said, “I tend to socialize more in Washington because that’s where our friends are.”

Potter said couples may choose to live in the Valley if only one spouse is working in Idaho.

“If you’re going to work for Harpers and your husband is a salesman,” he said, “the opportunities for employment would be better over there - you’ve got a bigger base” in Spokane.

“And on that income,” he added, “you wouldn’t pay tax.”

Business growth seems to be continuing through the SpokaneCoeur d’Alene corridor.

Murphy said many Idaho businesses are involved in the Valley Chamber of Commerce, and downtown Spokane businesses belong to chambers in North Idaho.

“The people who are going to be successful understand that they’ve got to be involved in the whole marketplace,” he said.

When business grows in Post Falls and families move into the Valley, roads carry more traffic and schools get more students.

Van pools are now available for people who commute between Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.

If the demand for public transportation from Spokane to Post Falls grew higher, Spokane Transit Authority could request that the Federal Transportation Administration allow it to extend service past the border.

Buses could run routes up to 10 miles outside Washington, said Teresa Stueckle, STA customer relations manager.

When Harpers opened in Post Falls, that community was concerned that schools would become crowded.

“We were expecting a big impact from Harpers on our service and our schools,” said Nora Sharp, president of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.

“We only impacted our school district by 17 students,” she said. “That makes me think that many of (those families) were absorbed into Spokane.”

Valley school district officials aren’t sure how many new students have entered their schools as a result of Idaho companies such as Harpers.

But they’re keeping an eye on the business development in Post Falls that might affect Valley schools.

“We’re always concerned about student housing - we’re crowded now,” Skip Bonuccelli, Central Valley School District spokesman, said.

“Our population has continued to increase over the last couple of years,” he said. “We would expect that to continue if (North Idaho business) growth continues.”