Group seeking zoning changes

Arguing that agriculture and timber no longer are viable uses for 961 acres overlooking Powderhorn Bay, developers want Kootenai County to change the zoning to allow three golf courses and 1,350 homes.

Five separate landowners working with Heartland LLC of Seattle have asked the county to change the land classification to rural. That would allow Heartland to build an exclusive golf community near Harrison, similar to Gozzer Ranch and The Club at Black Rock, both of which are on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The zone changes are separate from Heartland’s initial request to amend the county’s growth plan, the foundation of all land-use decisions. In May, the county Planning Commission recommended denial of Heartland’s comprehensive plan amendment, saying the county is updating the plan and that will dictate the future of rural areas.

County commissioners, who will make the final decision, are scheduled to hold a public hearing Sept. 14.

Senior planner Mark Mussman said Heartland needs the zone change to build the golf community even if commissioners agree to change the comprehensive plan.

Managing director Steve Walker said the company still is deciding whether to withdraw the comprehensive plan amendment. He said the company decided to pursue the zone changes simultaneously to show naysayers – mostly neighbors who don’t want the former cattle ranches and farmland to be transformed into gated communities – that it doesn’t want to put high-density development on the property.

Heartland wants to develop 1,642 acres with a mixture of luxury second homes and golf courses. Of that land, 961 acres now are classified as agriculture and 643 acres are zoned either rural or restricted residential.

As part of the zone change requests, Heartland and the five other property owners agree not to put more homes on the land than what already is allowed. Walker said that today, the company could build about 2,600 homes.

“We aren’t playing any games,” Walker said. “We will bind ourselves.”

Susan Melka, who lives on the east side of the lake near the Heartland properties, said she wasn’t aware of the zone change requests but doesn’t like the idea of that many new homes in the area, even if fewer homes would be built than what currently is allowed.

She said that if the county approves the zoning or the comprehensive plan changes, it would be “signing a warrant for the destruction of that area.”

Melka said much of the land is steep or rocky and unsuitable for more than 1,000 homes. She argues that the owners already would have developed the land if it were feasible.

The zone change applications include agricultural and timber studies that conclude that the land no longer is viable for those uses. The narrative says that 53 percent of the Powderhorn Peninsula already is zoned rural, which allows one home per five acres, or restricted residential, which allows five homes per acre.