High court decision keeps airstrip illegal

A Coeur d’Alene couple should have solved its problem with their airstrip at the county level, not in the courts, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

That means that Brent and Moura Regan’s airstrip south of Coeur d’Alene off Borley Road remains illegal and that no planes can land there.

The decision came after the Regans asked the Idaho Supreme Court to reconsider its initial ruling issued in July. The July decision also said that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because the Regans didn’t attempt to solve the problem outside the courtroom.

The Regans own the airstrip on 175 acres in an agricultural suburban zone in the rural area a few miles east of Coeur d’Alene. Brent Regan occasionally used it for personal flights. The airstrip was the site of a plane crash that killed two and injured one in October 2002.

The Kootenai County Planning Department sent a letter in 1999 threatening to sue the Regans if they didn’t stop using the airstrip because it violated county law. The letter said that the Regans could appeal the county’s interpretation of the law or apply for an amendment.

The land is zoned agricultural suburban and the county prohibits airstrips in these areas.

Instead, the Regans filed a lawsuit in 2002 for relief against Kootenai County while asking for an interpretation of the ordinance as it applied to their private airstrip.

The district court ruled against the Regans, prohibiting them or anyone from using the airstrip. They appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court.

In the meantime, the Regans asked the county for a zone change in an attempt to make the airstrip legal. A hearing examiner recommended approval of the zone change but the Regans withdrew the request before the Kootenai County Commission could make a final ruling.

If the Regans had gotten the zone change, then they could have applied for a conditional use permit to keep the paved airstrip.