Rural Residents Feel Growing Pains Plans For Storage Facility North Of Rathdrum Spark Latest Protest

When residents in a rural area north of Rathdrum heard of a neighbor’s plan to build a storage facility on 11 acres, they fumed.

Only three years ago, they had fought a similar battle over the same land at the northwest corner of Ohio Match Road and Old Highway 95. That fight was to prevent a zone change that would have allowed a stump grinding operation.

They won.

Now the new owner of the unincorporated land, Mort E. Castleton, wants to build a storage facility for contractors.

Neighbors aren’t any happier with the idea of a storage facility than they were in 1994 with the idea of a stump grinding operation.

“Let us have the property we thought we were getting,” pleaded neighbor Joan Katayama to Kootenai County commissioners earlier this week. “We wanted to retire here.”

Katayama and her husband, James, bought their property 20 years ago when all surrounding land was rural.

Residents all over Kootenai County are feeling similar pains as the county’s growth pushes developers, businesses and industry into rural neighborhoods.

“The population in 1990 was 69,000,” said Cheri Howell, planning director for the Kootenai County Planning Department. “It’s estimated now we’re at 98,000. That’s a lot of people moving in and a lot of changes.”

Some of Castleton’s neighbors’ most common complaints - that the storage facility would cause increased traffic, upset wildlife and change the area’s rural character - are the same complaints being made by residents all over North Idaho whenever a new development moves into their back yards.

Jim Stravens, who represents Castleton, said the storage facility wouldn’t have much of an impact on neighbors. He pointed out that very few neighbors can see the property.

“It would have a slight impact, I would suppose, on traffic generation here,” he conceded.

But Castleton would make improvements to the road as needed for contractors to reach his facility, Stravens said.

However, Michael Stine, a neighbor and president of the Little Rock/Highway 95 Road Association, said Castleton hasn’t paid his dues to the neighborhood association to maintain the roads. Old Highway 95 and Little Rock Road - which front Castleton’s property on its east and north sides, respectively - both are private and are maintained by the residents who live along them.

“This individual could have bought industrial property but chose not to, and now he’s trying to shove it down our throats,” Stine testified to county commissioners at a Wednesday hearing.

Linda Leppink, who bought the property with Castleton, said she and Castleton never have received a bill from the road association but would pay and may pay more than the dues of $10 per month once the storage units are constructed.

Castleton said he only wants to fulfill what he perceives as a need for outdoor storage in the county.

Once complete, the facility would house up to 20 units.

Because a conditional development agreement is attached to the zone change, Castleton cannot change his planned use of the land without making a second application to the county, which also would involve a public hearing process.

“I couldn’t find any place in Kootenai County with any outside storage,” Castleton said. “There is definitely a need for something like this in the county.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of Proposed storage site area