Housing restrictions upheld

Neighbors who oppose a housing development on Coeur d’Alene’s Best Hill recently won another round as a judge limited the number of homes allowed in the area on the east edge of town.

For the second time, 1st District Court Judge John Luster upheld protective covenants on 30 acres at the end of Best Avenue that allow one home for every two acres, regardless of zoning laws in either the city or the county.

Halko LLC appealed the decision to the Idaho Supreme Court. The two-acre restriction means Halko could build only 15 homes instead of the 35 homes initially proposed.

Bill Radobenko, a Dalton Gardens developer, is a managing member of Halko and also is associated with Hallmark Homes, which owns an adjoining 93 acres.

Attorney John Magnuson, who represents Halko, questions how the covenants can stand when seven new property owners, who each have less than two acres, signed the agreement just days after Halko made its subdivision and annexation proposal to the city.

Halko has asked the city twice to zone the property to allow up to five homes but withdrew the proposal each time before it went to a public hearing.

The Supreme Court likely won’t take up the case for months.

“We need to use these types of tools to help keep neighborhoods more complete and less impacted (by development),” Jeffrey Coulter of Best Hill Coalition said about the lawsuit filed by the neighborhood group.

The former owner of the property agreed in 1986 to a protective covenant that lasts 30 years.

It was one of eight properties included under the Nettleton Estates property owners’ contract. Last year seven new property owners in the Nettleton Gulch area signed on to the agreement. Then 12 of the 15 property owners covered by the covenants agreed to an amendment that calls for only one home for every two acres.

In a separate issue, Best Hill Coalition questions why Coeur d’Alene is extending sewer lines to the edge of a property owned by Radobenko’s construction company. The home is in the city limits and already has sewer service. The prospective buyer wants the sewer line extended to the edge of the property, which joins county and Halko’s property, so it isn’t ripped up in the future if the city decides to extend sewer lines to the Nettleton Gulch area.

Wastewater Superintendent Sid Fredrickson said the sewer extension is in the city’s master plan, but it likely won’t happen for years. He said the prospective owner wants the work done now so Radobenko has to pay for the landscaping.

Fredrickson said the city couldn’t provide sewer service to the Halko property until the City Council agrees to include it in the city limits.