Move OK’d for Hagadone apartments

The Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission is allowing businessman Duane Hagadone to move slightly the location of the proposed Potlatch Hill apartments that will overlook the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.

Hagadone is changing the design of the 30-unit luxury apartment building so tenants would have more privacy from their decks. That means moving the building 40 feet up the hillside and off of the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene. The footprint also will move 75 feet north, which is farther up Fernan Creek.

The planning commission decided Tuesday that because the change isn’t significant a public hearing isn’t needed. Commission members said they were appreciative that the new location will comply with the 40-foot shoreline buffer that was originally waived.

The city approved the original footprint for the proposed apartment building in March 2004 as part of a limited-design planned unit development for five apartment and townhouse buildings along Lake Coeur d’Alene in addition to a new hotel on the golf course.

The limited-design PUD allows the city to know exactly where Hagadone would locate the buildings and how much space they would take up without knowing the architectural specifics. It also guarantees exactly how much of the Hagadone property would be left open.

Any changes to the initial plan require approval by the city and another public hearing is held if the modifications are substantial.

Hagadone spokesman John Barlow said the building height will remain the same but the footprint of the building will be 24 percent smaller.

Hagadone has said that the luxury apartment, just above the 13th hole, would be built first and that construction would begin as soon as enough customers commit to leasing the units. Conceptual plans for the marina and luxury apartments submitted to the city in January 2004 state that the apartments will be in a gated community with access off Potlatch Hill Road.