Lawsuit Puts Stop To Crane Business On Owner’S Property Judge Agrees Zone Ordinance Violated

Lorn and Teresa Rohrbach thought they’d jumped through all of the right bureaucratic hoops when they began operating their crane business from their property in Kootenai County outside Post Falls.

Now, a few years later, they’ve been sued, and they no longer can operate Coeur d’Alene Crane and Construction Service from their home.

“I contacted Kootenai County Planning and Zoning before I even purchased the property,” Lorn Rohrbach said. “They looked up the zoning ordinance with me and said what I needed to do and said it would be fine.”

The Rohrbachs’ land, which lies on Prairie Avenue outside of Post Falls, had been used to grow hay until they bought it in 1994. Lorn Rohrbach started operating Coeur d’Alene Crane and Construction Service in March 1995. Two months later, adjacent property owners, filed a lawsuit against him.

The neighbors could not be reached for comment.

Before Rohrbach bought the property, he told the county planning and zoning department what he intended to do and asked if that would be allowed under the county’s zoning ordinance. The land is zoned for agricultural uses.

Associate Planner Larry Collier told Rohrbach that his crane business would be allowed, Collier stated in an affidavit. An exemption to the county’s zoning ordinance states that contractors who live in an agricultural zone may have a “maintenance, repair and processing building” as well as a storage yard on the property where they live.

Rohrbach is a licensed contractor. Coeur d’Alene Crane employs between eight and 15 people, he stated in an affidavit, and only some of his business - such as secretarial work and crane maintenance and repair - is done on his home’s property.

The neighbors, James and Carolyn Crowe, argued that the crane business violated the county’s zoning ordinance.

“Coeur d’Alene Crane and Construction Service is a 24-hour construction, machinery moving, steel erection, boat launching and storage business and is so identified in each of the advertisements,” wrote the Crowes’ attorney, Scott Reed. “Into this peaceful, bucolic setting, (Rohrbach) has moved his industrial enterprise.”

First District Court Judge Gary Haman took the Crowes’ side.

“It must be found as a matter of common sense that Coeur d’Alene Crane has located and is conducting its commercial operations from property which is owned as agricultural,” Haman wrote in his decision on the matter.

“The activities exceed that of a general contractor such as an electrician or a plumber who is simply operating from a residence, or, for that matter, a logger who merely parks the truck at home and does necessary maintenance while it is so parked.

“It essentially is a business every bit as much as if the operator was running a fleet of taxicabs from the property whereon he also happened to reside.”

The judge ordered Rohrbach to stop operating the company from his property on Prairie Avenue.

Lorn Rohrbach said he’s planning to appeal the decision but isn’t certain what he’ll do next as far as his business is concerned.

“We spent thousands of dollars and countless hours making this a good place to operate a business and have a home,” he said. “It’s very frustrating. You do everything the local government tells you and then another branch of government tells you `No.”’