Lakefront expansion on hearing agenda

A Kootenai County examiner is having a public hearing tonight on developer Marshall Chesrown’s plan to expand the area’s original lakefront luxury golf community by adding hundreds of homes and condos.

The 1,100-acre expansion would include a second private golf course and a nine-hole, par-three course, kids camp and equestrian center. In addition, 206 luxury homes and 325 condo units would be built on the bluff overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene. The site is across Loffs Bay Road from the Club at Black Rock, Chesrown’s exclusive community that opened four years ago.

The proposal has sparked controversy among some neighbors and groups that want to preserve the area’s rural character. Most of the opposition centers on concerns about increased traffic and potential risks to Lake Coeur d’Alene’s water quality.

As of Tuesday, the county had received 129 public comments. All of them were in support of the expansion known as Black Rock North except for five letters of opposition and one neutral comment.

In a separate issue, the Idaho Department of Water Resources had a hearing Tuesday on a water use protest by the neighborhood group Coalition for Positive Rural Impact at Rockford Bay and Loffs Bay. No decision is expected for at least 30 days.

The group, along with the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, protested a change in Black Rock Utilities’ water permit, arguing the development wants to take too much water from the lake.

KEA settled with Black Rock this summer but the neighborhood coalition continued its fight

Chesrown wants to change the water permit designation to municipal use from the current irrigation classification. He says he’s not asking for more water but that the municipal designation would allow him to use the water on the additional 1,100 acres.

Black Rock’s subdivision application with the county says the expansion would happen in three phases and construction could last 10 years.

In July, Chesrown said only 60 of the initial 375 lots at the original retreat are left, so it’s time to expand.

Membership fees to the club are about $100,000 plus monthly dues of $500, with required purchase of residential lots starting at about $200,000.