City Council to hear Copper Ridge appeal

Opponents of the proposed Copper Ridge housing development at the foot of Canfield Mountain get to share their complaints Tuesday with the Coeur d’Alene City Council.

Neighbors near the Shadduck Lane property filed an appeal against Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission’s April 13 recommendation to approve plans for the 28-lot planned unit development. During the same meeting, the commission also recommended changing the zoning to allow three homes per acre on the land. The current zoning allows one home per acre.

The City Council is having a public hearing on both the appeal and the zoning request.

More than 120 people have signed statements against Quest Development Inc.’s proposal, arguing it would put too many houses on the land and isn’t compatible with adjacent developments that are only one home per acre. They fear the Copper Ridge project will open the door for development on the steeper slopes of Canfield Mountain, which neighbors argue would look like Marvin Erickson’s home with the notorious Z-shaped road up the hillside’s face.

Quest, which is owned by locals Fred LeClair and Greg Snyder, said neighbors are confused and jumping to conclusions because the current request doesn’t include the hillside.

The 28-lot proposal currently before the city is for the flat land where the Seventh-Day Adventist Church had once planned to build a school. Wetzel said it has nothing to do with the hillside property and that the developers agreed not to change the zoning on the hillside area, meaning it would remain one home per acre. They also agreed not to make the housing development a gated community because neighbors were opposed to the idea.

Quest attorney Steve Wetzel said the project would look nothing like Erickson’s home. Wetzel said Quest’s long-term plan is to eventually put some homes – perhaps 20 to 30 residences – on the hillside while leaving the remaining area open. The public would have access to the open space and trails that lead to the national forest. That would mean Copper Ridge could eventually include 74 upscale homes. The city would have to approve plans for the second phase.

The hearing was initially scheduled for May 18 but was postponed until Tuesday because of a typo in the legal description that was included in the publications announcing the hearing.

Tuesday’s 6 p.m. public hearing is at City Hall, 710 E. Mullan Ave. For more information, call 769-2300.