Developer, Hauser Residents Meet Neighbors United Against Prospect Of 40-Lot Subdivision Near Lake

At a scenic spot on West Hauser Lake Road, the water is calm and serene. Neighborhood kids walk in the street, skateboards and bicycles in hand. Adults walk their dogs.

A new subdivision could change all that - polluting the lake, clogging the roads, and threatening local wildlife, residents say.

Developer Brent Lockhart met with those worried residents at the city’s local fire station Monday evening. Armed with maps, an engineer and a lawyer, Lockhart said he wanted to hear people’s concerns and consider their suggestions for the development.

A joint committee of Hauser city and Kootenai County representatives recommended approval of Edgewood Estates Oct. 10. More than 70 residents packed the small City Hall to voice their concerns and praise for the project.

Last week, Kootenai County commissioners scheduled a Nov. 29 public hearing on the project.

The proposed 40-lot subdivision would be on 97 acres of land, a quarter-mile north of Hauser. Houses would range from $150,000 to $300,000 and lot sizes would vary from one to two acres.

The land was for sale for several years, Lockhart said. He bought it five months ago from Jim and Ruby Oxford.

If approved by commissioners, the houses would be built next to a buffer zone ranging 274 to 480 feet away from the 100-year flood area - the average high point water has reached in 100 years.

But the 100-year flood plain is inaccurate, said Chad and Janelle Stevens, residents who live in the middle of the proposed project. They have collected more than a dozen pictures and video illustrating their point - that the water goes higher than where the houses are planned.

Not only would residents be flooded out of their homes, but septic tanks would empty into the lake, they said.

“These houses are going to be under water,” Janelle Stevens said, pointing to pictures of water covering roads. “If we have a flood like in `97, the wells will be under water by 10 feet.”

The Stevenses helped organize concerned residents, who live all around the lake, they said. The threat to everyone’s homes in Hauser has unified even the newest residents with some of the oldest, they said.

“If (Lockhart’s) a man of honor, he will yield to this,” Janelle Stevens said before attending the meeting, about the flooding issues. “My impression from our last meeting is that he didn’t want to hear this (information).”

Lockhart said he’s followed the restrictions set by authorities. He is looking into the claims of the high waters.

“Why would I want to take that risk?” he asked.

Buyers would own the buffer area, but it would have strict landscaping rules in order to keep the area in its native state for the wildlife. New houses would have wide corridors for animals to travel through, Lockhart said.

That’s more of an attempt to save wildlife and natural habitat than what is happening now, Lockhart said. He intends to give 34 acres of wetlands to either a conservancy, the city of Hauser or a land trust. Right now, livestock run in the fenced wetland area, ruining native plants, he said.

But houses, driveways and simply the encroachment of more people would undeniably threaten turtles, moose, blue herons, eagles and ducks here that travel to and from the lake, neighbors say.

The city’s code book is strict, with restrictions and laws beginning at the letter A and continuing to ZZ. If all the rules are met, the code book states that any developer’s permit “shall be granted,” said Scott Brown, Hauser’s code administrator.

The book, which was enacted in October 1999, has an entire section on flood plain management, Brown said.

Lockhart will propose another 40-lot subdivision to the city’s planning and zoning commissioners Nov. 28. The merit points Lockhart earns from Edgewood Estates’ road improvements, wetlands donations, shared driveways and trails will help him build a higher density development east of Hauser Lake.

“I’m glad,” Lockhart said, that residents came to the meeting to ask questions. “If there’s something wrong, I want to find it.”