Residents complain that a 279-lot subdivision proposed south of Rockford Bay would turn the peaceful area into the biggest city between here and Moscow.

“We’d like to leave the country in the country and the city in the city,” said David Fish, a mechanic and grass farmer neighboring the 251-acre site 17 miles south of Coeur d’Alene.

Kootenai County planning commissioners this week seemed to agree. They recommended county elected officials turn down the proposal by a California development group.

The subdivision will go before county commissioners Feb. 1. It will be the first controversial large development proposal heard by the new all-Republican board.

Sun Up Bay Associates, of Chico, Calif., already have had problems.

The project, first proposed in January 1994, originally called for 325 homes along the west shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene. It since has been scaled back, but still calls for urbanlevel housing densities with no commercial services.

“Mileage wise, it would be like approving a subdivision in Spirit Lake with the nearest available services in Coeur d’Alene,” said county resident Wes Hanson.

The original name of the project - Cherokee Hills - angered some Coeur d’Alene Indian tribal officials, one of whom said it was an insult to local history. The subdivision proposal falls entirely within the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation.

Developers have since changed the name to Circling Raven and “have made a powerful effort to work with the tribe,” said tribal spokesman Bob Bostwick.

But what’s most troubling to the nearly 140 speakers and letter-writers who oppose the plan is its size. It could significantly change the rural character of Sun Up Bay.

“There’s some development out there, but this would be pretty much a stand-alone, by-itself development,” said Planning Commissioner Jon Mueller. “There’s no real emerging pattern of development in that area.”

The project would double traffic through that area on U.S. Highway 95 and bring an estimated 140 new students to area schools.

Sun Up Bay associate Dean Grissom has said developers will ensure the project has as little impact as possible on existing residents.

“We put a lot of time, money and effort into this to do the right thing,” he said last year.

But residents aren’t convinced.

“They’re 20 years ahead of their time,” said Fish. “It’s nothing but country down here. That’s the way we want it to stay.”