Pole barns focus of hearing

Kootenai County is trying to ensure that residents can put up pole barns without turning some areas into rows of metal warehouses.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday on proposed changes to the county’s zoning laws that would clarify when and where residents can build the garage-like structures, often used to store RVs, boats or cars.

The proposed changes to the zoning laws come after the Planning Commission had a public workshop in January to help it sort out a solution.

“We’re going to try again,” said Senior Planner Mark Mussman. “I’m not sure exactly what the result will be.”

The Kootenai County commission will have the final say.

Pole barns have sparked numerous conflicts, including a lawsuit, in the Bonanza Ranch area southeast of Coeur d’Alene. Property owners there are erecting the metal structures on inexpensive lots that can’t support homes because the ground is too rocky to sustain a septic system. The barns have become a way for property owners to add value to their land.

Yet some people living in the area complain that the buildings are creating a “warehouse-type” district that is ruining rural charm and lowering property values.

Bonanza Ranch resident Linda Payne said she doesn’t think the proposal changes anything other than limiting the size of pole barns and requiring more notification to neighbors before the structures are approved by the county. She said the problem would remain because people would still be free to build metal barns on empty lots. “All this does is legalize warehouses and open Bonanza Ranch,” said Payne, who sued the county, maintaining that seven pole barns were illegally erected in her neighborhood. The proposal would change the definition of an accessory building, clarifying that property owners can only build accessory buildings on land where there is a primary structure such as a house.

But it also would add personal storage buildings to the law. Property owners could apply for a special notice permit to construct these personal storage buildings on lots where there is no primary dwelling. The special notice process requires the county to post the site with a notice showing that the owner wants to build a personal storage structure.

If neighbors object, the county can have a public hearing. The County Commission would make the final decision on whether to allow construction.

The county also would limit the size of personal storage buildings so they wouldn’t take up the entire lot.

In agricultural and rural areas, personal storage buildings could be no larger than 3,000 square feet. In restricted residential and agricultural suburban areas, such as Bonanza Ranch, personal storage buildings could measure up to 2,000 square feet.

Mussman said the planning and building department director would have discretion to determine if the proposed pole barn is too large for the lot.

“We’ve turned a lot of people away with permits for a 1,100-foot house but want to build a 2,000-square-foot pole barn,” Mussman said. “There have been some serious issues come up that really made for some confrontations at the front counter.”

Currently, no accessory buildings are allowed in agricultural-suburban areas such as Bonanza Ranch unless a house is on the property. County commissioners voted in December to stop new construction of the structures in agricultural-suburban areas as a “quick fix” until a better solution was found. That’s what the county is attempting with the new proposal.

In March, a district court judge ruled on a case similar to Payne’s, declaring that the county shouldn’t have issued permits for three pole barns on Violet Avenue because there was no dwelling on the lots.

The ruling is limited to the facts in the Violet Avenue case, but Payne thinks the opinion will have bearing on the Bonanza Ranch case.