Planning development

Growth in Kootenai County, like most places in the West, is a touchy issue. But a workshop Tuesday aims to get all the factions together to talk.

Several panels of speakers will focus on how to balance open space and development during the forum, organized by the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce and to be held at North Idaho College. The day will include roundtable discussions. As of Friday, 70 people had registered.

Chamber President and General Manager Jonathan Coe said all residents, no matter their beliefs, are passionate about the ever-increasing population and its effect on the landscape and economy.

Instead of bickering, he hopes people – farmers, builders buying chunks of prairie land for housing developments, environmentalists and real estate agents – can work together. Or in the end, at least understand the varying viewpoints.

“I hope we can start hearing each other at this meeting,” Coe said. “How do we work together to realize all the hopes, and make sure the fears don’t come to pass.”

If it all sounds too Pollyanna-like, Coe said the idea is based on a similar get-together in the 1980s when Kootenai County’s economy tanked as logging, mining and other natural resource industries withered. People on all sides of the issue gathered to brainstorm, and Jobs Plus, the local job-recruiter, was born along with ideas for marketing tourism and making Coeur d’Alene and North Idaho a destination, Coe said.

Kootenai County now is confronted with the new challenge of how to maintain economic vitality along with the quality of life bringing people to the area, he said.

Barry Rosenberg of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance said the growth forum is a chance for people to have more intimate and constructive conversations than those that happen at contentious land-use hearings or that play out in the media.

Participants will sit at tables together to talk and brainstorm.

“Maybe some kind of understanding could be generated among the participants,” Rosenberg said. “We can get an understanding of the complexity of the problems and come up with some possible solutions.”

The timing is good because Kootenai County is in the midst of rewriting its comprehensive plan, which is the foundation of all land-use decisions. Coeur d’Alene is wrapping up a similar rewrite.

Charlie Rens, president of the North Idaho Building Contractors Association, is on a panel discussing how other areas have dealt with growth. He is joined by Dennis Glick of the Sonoran Institute’s Bozeman office. The institute works with communities to incorporate conservation and smart-growth initiatives.

The panel also will have representatives from KEA and the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors.

Rens encourages anyone with an interest in the area and its future to attend.

“Instead of trying to fight growth, we can identify the needs, wrap our arms around it and work to make it the best it can be,” he said. “If that happens, all groups would be totally satisfied.”