County building permits set mark

Kootenai County set a record in 2005 for the number of building permits issued and the number of building inspections conducted by staff, causing a local environmental group to call for a temporary building moratorium.

The 18 percent increase in permits and inspections from the previous year is just another sign of the area’s seemingly never-ending growth boom. The county issued 1,960 building permits. Of those, 580 permits were for single-family homes – also an all-time high. The county performed about 12,600 building inspections.

“Whether it’s good for the county depends on your perspective,” said Kootenai County Building and Planning Director Rand Wichman. “More and more people are becoming disenfranchised with the growth.”

Wichman submitted the year-end report to the Kootenai County commission last week.

Carol Sebastian of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance said the sprawl is out of control and that the county is failing to consider the consequences. She called Friday for a temporary moratorium that would stop all building until a growth plan is developed. Sebastian said it’s perfect timing because the county is getting ready to update its comprehensive plan, which is the blueprint for all land-use decisions.

“They need to take a break and look at how they are growing and what they need to do,” she said, adding that areas such as Lake Tahoe have done it.

One example is ensuring that the county preserves land between towns so the county doesn’t turn into an urban area that no longer has the attributes that draw people, such as open space, treed hillsides, clean air and drinkable water. In the end, that will actually harm the economy, she said.

Commissioner Rick Currie soundly denounced the idea of a moratorium.

“That’s a scary term,” Currie said. “If we were to entertain a moratorium that would put absolute brakes on the economic development we are experiencing and that is not fair. Moratoriums are easy to suggest, but they are darn tough to handle and expensive, very expensive.”

Yet, he acknowledged the county faces challenges with how to grow responsibly, especially since people are looking to areas difficult to develop such as steep hillsides and wetlands.

He thinks the county can come up with a good growth plan without a moratorium. He said the comprehensive plan, which is expected to be completed by 2007, is the way to do it.

Ron Mahuron of the North Idaho Building Contractors Association wasn’t available for comment Friday.

Even though the number of building permits and inspections continued to grow, subdivision requests decreased 41 percent. The county processed 26 subdivision applications in 2005, many of which were left over from 2004. That year developers feared pending changes in the county’s subdivision laws so they flooded the department with 43 applications – more than a 100 percent increase from the previous year. In 2005, numbers returned to normal.

Wichman said his departments are more able to handle the increase in building permits and inspections because the commission has provided more staff.