Hayden Rejects Apartment Complex Plan Council Again Denies Proposal For Mixed-Income Housing

A developer insistent on bringing a mixed-income apartment complex to this city’s downtown brought a team of experts to Wednesday night’s public hearing in council chambers.

He also brought a veiled threat to force the council to approve the request under the federal Fair Housing Act.

Todd Prescott, owner of Whitewater Creek Inc., and attorney Denny Davis spoke to the council Wednesday about a plan for a 45-unit apartment complex a block from City Hall on Sargent Drive. The 3.1-acre complex, called Hayden Country Ridge, would cost $3.1 million.

After an hour and a half of testimony and debate, the council denied the request by a vote of 2 to 1.

Council members Nancy Taylor and Darlene Ferrians voted to deny the proposal. Council member Frank Martin approved the plan. Council member Chris Beck, who has said he supports the plan, abstained, because of a conflict of interest. Beck’s engineering firm has done work for Whitewater in the past.

If not for Beck’s abstention, the proposal would likely have passed. Mayor Ron McIntire, who would cast a vote in the event of a tie, said he supported the plan.

This is the second time in a month the council has voted against Whitewater’s plan. On Sept. 20, the vote was unanimous. Martin said his only concern during the first vote was information from the Hayden Lake Fire District that the complex wouldn’t meet fire codes. Davis came armed with a letter Wednesday from the fire district that said if the development met fire code regulations, the district would probably approve it.

The letter convinced Martin to change his mind, he said. But Ferrians and Taylor still weren’t convinced. Even though the proposal wasn’t approved, Davis promised he wasn’t finished.

Because the development would offer housing to low-income residents, Davis said the developer could appeal the denial under the federal Fair Housing Act, which requires that cities provide reasonable access to fair housing. In other words, Davis said, he thought the city was required to approve Whitewater’s request. Whitewater owner Prescott and two outside engineers sought to prove the same thing by measuring the proposal against the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinances.

“We may not go away,” Davis said.

“We may be back.”

Taylor took offense at the implication, saying she considered it a threat, and moved to deny the request based on other concerns about the proposal.

City Attorney Jerry Mason said he couldn’t say for sure whether the council’s decision could be overturned. So he asked the council - before the motion - to make any decision provisional, so that the city staff can return with findings of fact. That the denial is provisional doesn’t change its nature, Mason said. But the council will vote once more after it has reviewed the findings.

Prescott said he couldn’t say for certain whether he’d bypass the council, but Davis implied that he probably would.

Ferrians wanted to be sure that the city indeed had the right to deny the request. Faced with a wealth of new information, she hesitated to make a decision Wednesday night, and initially suggested postponing the decision.

“This is a wonderful project,” she said. “But I do think it’s in the wrong place.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: IN OTHER ACTION Industrial plan OK’d

The Hayden City Council also approved a request by Ken Ela to develop 70 acres near the Coeur d’Alene Airport for light industrial uses.