Mullan project moves forward
The Post Falls City Council gave the go-ahead Tuesday for the annexation and rezoning of nearly five acres on Mullan Avenue, which the developers say eventually will be home to a massive medical-professional office building.
The issue was contentious, with neighbors complaining of possible increased traffic and uncertainty about whether the project will be developed as promised.
Tim Anthony, who lives across from the proposed medical complex, was escorted out of the council meeting by Post Falls Police Chief Cliff Hayes when Anthony refused to leave the podium and continued his profanity-laced list of complaints about the site.
The council unanimously approved annexation and rezoning to commercial use for the 4.63 acres on the northeast corner of Mullan and Syringa Street. The council asked that the annexation agreement limit the developers, Tamarack Partners LLC, to medical or office development.
The agreement will return to the council for official approval.
Engineer Brad Marshall, representing Tamarack, told the council the group planned an up-to 65,000-square-foot medical office building with potential for a pharmacy, optical center and medical laboratory.
City Hall breaks ground
The first shovelfuls of dirt were turned Tuesday in a groundbreaking ceremony for Post Falls’ long-awaited City Hall project.
Wearing hardhats and tossing freshly tilled dirt, city officials and leaders kicked off the $7.1 million, 41,000-square-foot building.
Mayor Clay Larkin called the event a “historic moment.”
Coeur d’Alene-based Ginno Construction is heading up the project, expected to wrap up in spring 2008.
The current City Hall, which is plagued by maintenance problems, will be torn down after the new facility is finished, city officials said.
The total cost of the project is expected to be roughly $8.8 million, including furnishings and design fees.
Athol
City doubling park size
The city of Athol is readying an addition to the town’s park that will nearly double its size.
The city purchased property last fall for nearly $60,000, bringing Athol City Park to total roughly a city block, Mayor Lanny Spurlock said last week.
The land has been leveled, but the city now needs to install a sprinkler system, grass and a fence, Spurlock said.