Stevens County Considers Tossing Out Loon Lake Zoning Plan Commissioners Say Land-Use Documents Contain Conflicts
The Stevens County Planning Commission will consider a proposal today to eliminate the county’s comprehensive land-use plan and zoning for Loon Lake.
County officials and lake residents spent years developing the regulations, but county commissioners say they discovered conflicts in the documents during a controversial zone change.
The move by commissioners apparently reflects frustrations resulting from a lawsuit lake residents filed against the county.
Planning Director Loren Wiltse said county commissioners asked the Planning Commission for a recommendation on whether to repeal zoning around the lake and consider setting a public hearing to take testimony on the possible repeal of the Loon Lake Community Plan.
According to county commissioners, the plan doesn’t give enough guidance for the “watershed” designation that affects about half of a 20-acre lakefront site, where a Spokane couple wants to build up to 15 houses.
The plan “doesn’t give any insight” into what kind of development is appropriate in a watershed, Wiltse said. He said that designation affects most of the area on the outer side of the roads ringing the lake.
Most of the lake already is surrounded by cabins, but Wiltse said several undeveloped sites could be affected.
The issue involves a decision by the Planning Commission and county commissioners to grant a zone change giving Spokane residents Laura and Brian Kasbar the same zoning already enjoyed by most Loon Lake property owners.
The Loon Lake Property Owners Association and four cabin owners sued the county to block the zone change county commissioners upheld in April on appeal. The land went from “forestry” to the same three zones that apply to adjacent properties and most of the rest of the lake: lake residential, urban residential and suburban residential.
The suing property owners contend the change would allow environmentally damaging development.
The Kasbars propose to donate the wetland portion of their property to a public or private agency for preservation, Wiltse said. The new lots would have access to the lake through a community dock.
Wiltse said he prefers to amend land-use regulations rather than abandon them.
But he said county attorneys were told the property owners who filed suit don’t want any changes.
“It would always be our goal from a Planning Department standpoint to meet with the public and fix these inconsistencies,” he said. “If they’re unwilling to work with us to fix it, then we’ve got a hurdle to overcome.”
, DataTimes