Powderhorn zone change OK’d
Kootenai County commissioners shot down a proposal Thursday by a developer who wants to build a town of affordably priced homes across from the Silverwood Theme Park.
At the same hearing, however, county leaders backed a plan for another huge development – one with several golf courses and presumably much higher-priced homes – on the opposite end of the county, near Harrison.
The votes are far from the final say in the matter. The upscale golf community proposed for the southern end of Lake Coeur d’Alene faces several more political hurdles before the ground is turned.
The 900 acres near Silverwood could also end up dotted with homes sometime soon, but the commissioners’ decision means only one home will be allowed for every 5 acres. Spokane-based developer Dennis Swartout was seeking a change to the county’s land-use map that would have allowed his company to build more than 1,500 homes on the land south of Athol. Swartout could not be reached for comment Thursday, but in an earlier interview he said his development would not proceed without the land-use change.
Commissioners were split on their decisions on changing the land-use designations. Rick Currie voted against both proposals, saying the acreage hasn’t changed enough in character to justify allowing additional homes. Katie Brodie disagreed and voted for both changes. Gus Johnson was left to cast the deciding vote.
“A gut check is what it comes down to,” Johnson said. “It’s what you feel.”
Johnson said the developer of Rickel Ranch near Silverwood sought the change because the land was, in his opinion, no longer rural. Johnson disagreed, saying much of the landscape surrounding Silverwood “is as rural as America gets.” The parcel overlooking Powderhorn Bay, on the other hand, is no longer used for farming and should not be designated agricultural, Johnson said.
Brodie described the decision as one of the toughest she has made in the last 12 years of work on county planning issues. But in the end, she said the northern part of Kootenai County is dramatically different than when the existing comprehensive land use plan was written in 1994. This portion of the county has seen the greatest increase in building permits issued, she said. The land-use designation should be changed to reflect the times.
Currie said he didn’t make up his mind until Wednesday night.
He said he disagreed with the notion of developers buying large parcels of land, then expecting the county to change zoning laws to allow more homes on smaller lots. In his decision to vote against both changes, Currie also noted a desire to preserve open space in both areas.
Athol resident Tom Pearson attended Thursday’s hearing and was happy the land near Silverwood will remain designated as rural, rather than suburban.
“I don’t want to see another west coast of California here,” Pearson said. “It’s not necessary to put all those developments out there.”
Powderhorn developer Steve Walker said the land-use designation change won’t prompt him to add more homes to the project.
Walker said the change instead will make it easier to cluster the homes, leaving more room for golf courses, open space and wildlife corridors. More zoning changes will be needed before the project moves forward, he added.
“This is a long-term process,” Walker said.
Nearby resident Bev Twillmann expressed disgust after the hearing.
“It’s not open space, it’s golf courses they want,” Twillmann said, adding that she fears the proposed golf courses will lead to massive amounts of fertilizer eventually seeping into Lake Coeur d’Alene.
The proposed golf community could add about 1,350 luxury homes to this sparsely populated area. Twillmann said it would have been more appropriate to keep existing land-use designations, which allow only one home for every 20 acres. This is more in keeping with the rural character of the area, she said.
“If the developers would just go with what’s already up there and leave us alone, we’d leave them alone,” Twillmann said.