Building rules up for debate

Kootenai County wants to protect its hillsides so they aren’t covered with homes and road scars. And that means limiting where people can build on these steep slopes.

But some local developers, including the North Idaho Building Contractors Association, fear the move will put a moratorium on building in Kootenai County. And with the area’s skyrocketing population, the builders argue people need homes.

“We can’t eliminate all building everywhere and still accommodate growth,” said NIBCA spokeswoman Pat Raffee. “People are moving here and they need a place to live.”

County Planning Director Rand Wichman said locals are concerned about losing Kootenai County’s natural beauty and want local government to protect the hillsides. That’s why the county wants to limit building on hillsides with grades that are steeper than 35 percent. He points to recent debates about development on Canfield Mountain as examples.

“The public cares about how things look,” Wichman said. “Either we care about it and do something about it or we pretend the consequences (of hillside development) are none of our business and let it go.”

This is just one of the contentious points in the county’s proposed changes for how to divide and classify land.

For more than a year, county staff and the county Planning Commission have worked to rewrite both the subdivision and zoning rules, which ultimately work together. During that time there have been several public hearings and many residents, developers and environmentalists aren’t happy with how the rules are shaping up. And they’ve argued that there hasn’t been enough public involvement.

Yet there’s no disagreement that the laws need updating.

The Kootenai County Commission is having a public hearing Thursday on both proposals. This is the first time the public will have a chance to compare both drafts, which will ultimately work together.

Raffee and local developer and NIBCA member Bill Radobenko have spent the last week meeting with everyone from the commissioners to environmentalists trying to convince them of what they say are severe consequences of the proposed rules.

Radobenko said the rules would limit where people could build and make developing even more expensive. In the end, he said the new rules will price many people out of homes.

He said many existing subdivisions, such as the Black Rock project or Woodland Heights, wouldn’t be allowed under the proposed rules because the lots are too steep.

Wichman said that’s untrue and that most of those developments still could happen. The difference is developers would have to change the location of some of the homes and perhaps build fewer residences.

Coeur d’Alene recently approved restrictions on hillside building, but Wichman said the city’s rules are more extensive and include provisions limiting the color people can paint their homes and how many trees they must leave on the property.

Besides the hillside restriction, Radobenko said proposed changes to how many homes are allowed in the county’s agricultural/suburban areas also will decrease the number of homes people can put on their land.

The commission wants one home allowed on each two-acre lot in these areas that are a transition between agricultural and more urban areas.

Currently the county allows five houses per acre.

Radobenko said the county doesn’t understand the economics of development. Developers have to build enough homes on a chunk of land to pay for infrastructure such as septic systems, water lines and roads. When the number of homes is limited, Radobenko said, developers can’t afford to build.

“That’s why we say it’s a moratorium,” he said.

Wichman said the number of homes allowed in the agricultural/suburban zoning needs to be reduced because people usually can’t build the current five homes per acre because of state restrictions on septic tanks to protect groundwater quality.

“The current zoning paints an unrealistic picture for people,” Wichman said.

NIBCA also argues the new rules would increase the cost of developing by requiring professionals such as engineers and geologists to do more studies on the land. Radobenko said it could double the cost of building a home.

Wichman said in many cases these studies already are required.

It’s unknown whether the commission will make a decision after the hearing. If the commission were to adopt both drafts, the new laws would probably take effect in mid-July.