Hayden Canyon annexation urged

Opponents of the proposed 618-acre Hayden Canyon development north of Hayden are vowing to take their fight to the Hayden City Council after the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended annexation of the property.

“We’re going to continue. We’ll never give up,” said Philip Clements.

“All we can do is put forth the effort to put forward the facts,” said Doug Wall, who has been working to defeat the project. “We stand as good of a chance in front of the City Council as anybody.”

The Hayden City Council has the ultimate authority to annex Hayden Canyon, annex it with conditions or deny the annexation request.

The Hayden Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-1 on June 16 to annex Hayden Canyon, with most commissioners reasoning that they would prefer to control how the site is developed than leave that up to Kootenai County.

“If we don’t annex this, they’re not going to sit on this forever,” said Commissioner Mary Jacobson. “If they do it with the county, they’re going to do it with septic systems.”

If the development is in Hayden, sewer service would be required.

“We just can’t put up a wall around the city of Hayden,” said Commissioner Ron Briggs.

Plans call for a 1,800-home development. The developer has agreed to also set aside land for open space and donate property for a school, park and police station.

Developer Glen Lanker told the Planning Commission that, if the property isn’t annexed by Hayden, he would move forward with developing it under county regulations.

“We’re not sure what an alternate scenario looks like with the county, but some of these commitments and agreements may not be part of that,” Lanker said.

Some planning commissioners expressed concerns about transportation impacts and the costs associated with adding so many new residents to the city.

Commissioner Wayne Syth cast the lone vote opposing annexation.

He said Hayden should encourage infill within its existing city limits before annexation.

Meanwhile Lanker is taking a look at how several conditions the Planning Commission tied to their recommendation would impact the project.

Those recommendations included capping density at lower levels until transportation mitigation is completed, calculating density caps based on “buildable” land rather than canyon and wetlands, requiring 40 percent of the property be retained as open space and mandating a fish and wildlife review of the land.

“It’s hard to say what kind of impact it will have on our development proposal,” Lanker said, adding that such conditions might decrease the amount of lower-cost “workforce” housing included in Hayden Canyon. “We’re looking forward to working out the details with the City Council.”