Idaho Growth Puts Pressure On Cities Three Kootenai County Towns Among 10 Fastest Growing In State

Three of the 10 fastest growing cities in Idaho are in Kootenai County, according to the latest census data.

Post Falls is the third fastest growing community in the state, nearly doubling its population from 1990 to 1996 and now bragging 14,303 people.

Rathdrum is in fifth place statewide and Hayden is in sixth.

Meridian - near Boise - grew by 115 percent between 1990 and 1996, making it the single fastest growing city in the state.

North Idaho sometimes staggers under the onslaught.

“It’s amazing what you have to deal with because of the growth,” said Nancy Taylor, who works for the city of Hayden. The most difficult problems are “where to come up with the funding to meet the basic needs - pave the roads, put in the stop signs, plow the snow.

“Sewer billing has become a big deal,” she said.

“Our tax base is so low that trying to meet the needs through taxes, with the 3 percent cap on budget increases, is very difficult,” Taylor said. It may mean the city has to use impact fees to help make infrastructure catch up with growth.

On the up side, however, the growth has prompted Hayden to become part of the Gem Community Program. That is bringing everyone from students to city leaders together to figure how to deal with growth.

‘It’s an awesome thing,” Taylor says of the program.

North Idaho’s skyrocketing population isn’t all peaches and paychecks. The Idaho Department of Transportation finds the state awash in far more traffic than it projected five years ago.

“It makes it tough in the planning process,” said department spokeswoman Barbara Babic.

“Can you forecast enough into the future so the road will be adequate when it’s built?”

The growth in places like Rathdrum is visible on the roads. Highway 41, which leads from Post Falls to Rathdrum “is on the verge of really exploding,” Babic said. “That’s where the 1,000 home subdivisions are.”

The highway gained two traffic signals this year. Meanwhile, U.S. Highway 95 is getting traffic lights where it bisects formerly untraveled places like Athol.

North Idaho’s snagging enough of the newcomers that even State Line makes the top of the heap, ranking 17th in terms of percentage growth since 1990. State Line is small enough that nine new people gave it a 35 percent boost.

Not all of North Idaho has done as well. Wallace and Kellogg, for example, have lost population since 1990. But Madison County is the only county to post a net population loss.

That’s probably because Ricks College capped enrollment, said Alan Porter, of the Idaho Department of Commerce.

Overall, Porter says impressive job growth is what’s kept Idaho’s population growth percolating. From 1987 to 1996, Idaho was third nationally in both the rate of job growth and the rate of population increase.

He predicts things will level off some across the state. Between now and the year 2000, annual population growth in the state is projected at 2.2 percent. But that’s still double the national rate, Porter said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Idaho cities population growth

MEMO: Changed from the Idaho edition.

This sidebar appeared with the story: IDAHO CITIES POPULATION GROWTH Idaho is the third fastest growing state in the nation. And three of the fastest growing cities in the state are in North Idaho.

1996 1990 PERCENT OF CHANGE CITY POPULATION POPULATION FROM 1990 TO 1996 Post Falls 14,303 7,342 +94.6% Rathdrum 3,409 2,000 +70.5% Hayden 7,951 4,888 +62.7% Sandpoint 6,748 5,203 +29.7% Coeur d’Alene 31,076 24,561 +26.5% Bonners Ferry 2,491 2,193 +13.6% Kellogg 2,559 2,591 -1.2% Wallace 954 1,010 -5.5% St. Maries 2,644 2,442 +8.3%

SOURCE: Staff research by Ken Olsen. Staff graphic