Study Will Compare Land Rules Developers Say It’S Better In Idaho

Spokane County will spend $16,200 to learn why developers say they get better treatment in Idaho’s Kootenai County.

But it will happen over objections from Commissioner John Roskelley, who suggested Idaho was, perhaps, a less-than-ideal model.

Spokane commissioners on Tuesday voted 2-1 to hire a consultant to study the Idaho county’s building and planning department.

The idea: look for efficiencies and ways to simplify the process for developers and builders.

“We’ve had some criticism focused towards us, saying ‘Gee, you guys are awfully bureaucratic and you take too much time,”’ said Jim Manson, Spokane County building and planning director. “(They) say, ‘I can go to Kootenai County and get it done real quick. It’s easy to build there.”’

Commissioner Kate McCaslin said she’s heard complaints for months that Spokane County’s permit process is too cumbersome and the department is overstaffed.

She and Commissioner Phil Harris agreed to hire Victoria Redlin, an attorney who has studied land-use issues on behalf of the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.

But Roskelley said the study was a bad idea all around.

The question seems to be “how can we make it easier for the development community to process their permit?” he said. “That’s not necessarily what we need. We need accountability to the environment as well as the citizens who expect us to be the main watchdogs of our community.”

Spokane County’s workers do a good job at that, he said.

Roskelley said the county should study a “progressive” Washington county, one that has to operate under the Growth Management Act and similar laws.

“Kootenai County is a lot smaller, they have different rules and regulations, different state regulations, different health regulations,” Roskelley said. “Sometimes they’re more stringent, sometimes they’re less.”

Kootenai County Planning Director Cheri Howell said she wasn’t familiar enough with the “nuts and bolts” of Spokane County to make a comparison. But Kootenai County works hard at “customer service and finding (development) alternatives that are within the intent of the rules,” she said.

Roskelley also said the study was a waste of money, since commissioners could send county employees across the border to get the same information.

But Harris and McCaslin argued that the two counties share a sole-source aquifer and are part of one region.

A consultant, they said, was necessary.

“We could produce this internally, but then folks from the outside would just say, ‘You’re biased,’ ” McCaslin said.

Under the contract, Redlin will compare land-use application processing and development rules, and track permit approvals. She also will interview staff members from both counties.