Commissioners have a plan: road trip

The Kootenai County Planning Commission is going on the road next week to meet with residents across the county.

The east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene is the first stop Monday, when the commission will visit the Camp Easton dining hall at 6:30 p.m.

It’s part of the commission’s yearlong process of rewriting the county’s comprehensive plan, which is the foundation of all land-use decisions.

The county wants to create individual growth plans for regions of the county that have unique characteristics, such as Mica Flats or Athol.

The commission has broken the county into eight areas:

“North Kootenai, which includes Athol.

“Selkirk, which includes Spirit Lake and Twin Lakes.

“East Lake Coeur d’Alene, which includes Harrison.

“Fernan, which includes the east side of Hayden Lake.

“Palouse, which is the southwest section of the county, including Worley.

“Mica

“Rathdrum Prairie, which includes Post Falls and Rathdrum.

“Bitterroot, which is the southeast part of the county that includes Cataldo.

The commission is scheduled to visit four of the areas next week.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the commission will visit the Mica Flats Grange. Wednesday’s meeting is in the Fernan area at 7 p.m. at 21894 E. Hayden Lake Road.

The commission will meet 6 p.m. Friday at the Athol Community Center.

Meetings in the other areas haven’t yet been scheduled.

The county wants to know if the descriptions of the eight designated areas are correct and what specific characteristics make the regions unique.

In addition to the sub-area discussion, the county wants residents at the meetings to discuss innovative ways to achieve some land-use ideas that locals have requested, such as open space preservation, affordable housing and the transfer of development rights. The county also wants to know how to fund and implement such ideas.

The volunteer commission has been meeting since January on the second and fourth Monday of each month for three-hour workshop sessions.

The commission’s next workshop is 8 a.m. Monday at the Kootenai County Administrative Building, 451 Government Way. The public is invited to attend.

For more information on the neighborhood meetings or Monday’s morning workshop, call (208) 446-1070 or go to the county’s Web site at www.kcgov.us/departments/planning.