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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Work with city for best results

The Spokesman-Review

For good reason, Marvin Erickson isn’t a popular man in Dalton Gardens and Coeur d’Alene.

The zig-zagging, milelong gash he carved on Canfield Mountain in 1999 to gain access to his 5,600-square-foot home can be seen from the Rathdrum Prairie. The road desecrates a postcard woodland view that has been enjoyed by Kootenai County residents since the 19th century. Defiantly, Erickson painted his huge house white after a Kootenai County planning director recommended that it be colored in earth tones to blend in with the mountain.

Three years later, Erickson further inflamed Dalton Gardens neighbors by proposing to build a 65-house subdivision on 105 mountainous acres. At that point, the neighbors dug in, fearing further damage to the landmark mountain. Erickson has faced hostile crowds at almost every planning meeting since. Now, he considers himself one of the most hated men around.

It didn’t have to be. With a little give-and-take, developers like Erickson can reduce public hostility toward their projects and themselves – and maybe gain some community support. North Idahoans, after all, fiercely support private property rights. Rather than push ahead with their plans stubbornly, developers can reduce the impact of controversial proposals by using good engineering and landscape methods, compromising – and giving something of value back to the community.

Greg Snyder and Fred LeClair, of Quest Development, showed the community a better approach than Erickson’s hard-nosed one.

Originally, the partners planned to develop 49 acres at the base and on a ridge of Canfield Mountain. And, similar to Erickson, they were met with protests, petitions and community animosity. More than 1,000 people signed petitions, stating they were willing to pay more taxes if the city would buy the property to preserve as open space.

After the Coeur d’Alene City Council rejected the developers’ subdivision plans twice, Snyder and LeClair extended an olive branch to angry neighbors and began meeting with them. As a result, both sides ended up with something they wanted. The developers won approval from the city for a scaled-down 40-lot subdivision at the base of the mountain. In exchange, they gave the city 24 acres to serve as a natural park – and the first piece of land that’s needed to provide a natural corridor to thousands of acres of U.S. Forest Service land beyond.

The approach taken by Quest Development will be tested again when the partners return with plans to build another subdivision on Canfield Mountain property now owned by Erickson. They have an option on the land. Already, they are discussing another property transfer to the city and constructing a water tower that will serve 700 homes. Unlike the current owner of that property, they know that sometimes you have to give a little to get much.