Shoshone County weighing moratorium on subdivisions

Shoshone County is considering calling a timeout on growth by putting a temporary halt on the creation of new lots in the county’s unincorporated areas.

“We know it’s not going to be popular,” county Commissioner Jon Cantamessa said Wednesday afternoon, shortly before a public meeting on the proposed moratorium. About 25 people showed up for the meeting, requiring the commissioner to move it to a larger room.

However, “we think we need to address this problem,” Cantamessa said.

With a 10-year-old comprehensive plan and antiquated development regulations, Shoshone County isn’t prepared for the growth coming its way, Cantamessa said. As mild weather approaches, the county is anticipating a surge of rural subdivision requests from developers, including some with plans for 200 or more homes.

State law allows counties to declare emergency moratoriums for up to 182 days in situations compromising the public’s health, safety and welfare. The county would use the time to review its comprehensive plan and development ordinances, including the regulations that govern development in the flood plains of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers.

Shoshone County’s population of 13,000 has been relatively stable. But the county – home to two ski resorts, bike trails and blue-ribbon trout streams – is starting to attract part-time residents looking for vacation homes and recreational property. Silver Mountain Resort’s owner has sold out three phases of condos in Kellogg. The project’s success is fueling interest from other developers, Cantamessa said.

In 2000, 14 new lots were created in unincorporated areas of Shoshone County. The count increased to 38 in 2003 and to 204 last year.

“This level of growth and density in the unincorporated county is unprecedented … ,” the proposed emergency moratorium reads. “Existing ordinances may not allow for approval of subdivisions even if the county deems them desirable.”

The county also needs to take a closer look at how growth will affect traffic, roads and the delivery of county services, the proposed moratorium said.

Cantamessa said the development spurt caught many by surprise. “Two years ago, this was a depressed economy. We had over 400 homes for sale. … Nobody wanted to build on a mountain,” he said.

Shoshone County has one planner with part-time clerical help. The moratorium on new land division requests would allow him to devote more time to updating the ordinances, speeding up the process, Cantamessa said.

The county also plans to contract for technical assistance with help from the state of Idaho. Shoshone is one of several rural counties that qualify for grant funding through a $250,000 allocation for growth management planning.

Cantamessa said he hopes the reviews can be completed within three to four months.

Commissioners took no action on the proposed moratorium Wednesday. “We’ll probably be talking about it every day for the next several days,” Cantamessa said.