Hearing Today On Latour Flooding

Kootenai County commissioners today will hold a public hearing on an effort to reduce flooding at Latour Creek in Cataldo.

The county has submitted a grant application to Idaho’s community development block grant program for a $150,000 grant that would build catch basins in Latour Creek.

The three rock walls would trap built-up rock sediment in the creek which then would be removed to be crushed and sold.

When sediment builds up in the creek bed, it takes less water to cause a flood, said Dave Brown, district conservationist for the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service.

“It’ll provide an opportunity to remove the bedload from the creek so it won’t accumulate down below where there’s homes,” he said. “It should reduce the flooding potential just by restoring the channel capacity.”

The project also could improve the habitat for the cutthroat trout that spawn in Latour Creek, Brown said.

If the grant is approved, the work likely would begin in the fall.

The public hearing begins at 2 p.m. at the county administration building.