Backers of Coeur d’Alene’s long-envisioned higher education corridor must feel like they’re playing a board game.

North Idaho College trustees authorize purchase of old DeArmond mill site: Move ahead one space.

Idaho Board of Education cancels meeting to consider University of Idaho’s long-term lease on Harbor Center Building: You lose a turn.

The corridor, as imagined, would be a consolidated campus stretching north from NIC between the Spokane River and Northwest Boulevard. Students could get their educations from a consortium including NIC, Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho. New buildings could go up to house expanded programs. Paths and retail space would appeal to students and community alike.

Acquiring the former mill site, a $13.25 million property that developer Marshall Chesrown has offered to the city of Coeur d’Alene for $10 million, has been described as the key to realizing the corridor project.

But there are other critical steps in this complicated enterprise. One is a lease that would assure the University of Idaho long-term use of the city’s Harbor Center Building, which is at capacity with UI’s current course offerings. A 99-year lease is available for $1.3 million, but the Board of Education has to OK it, something it was hoped might happen at a special meeting on Tuesday.

That meeting is now off, however. Why is a little unclear.

The Sept. 16 meeting was set up after the item was scrubbed from the board’s June agenda, but enough members reportedly now have scheduling conflicts that there would have been only a bare quorum.

And even though the board now has a master plan and a favorable economic feasibility report that weren’t available in June, some board members are still seeking more information.

Former UI President Tim White, a corridor supporter, has departed, but that shouldn’t pose a disruption. Interim President Steven B. Daley-Laursen is dean of the College of Natural Resources and no stranger to the university’s interests, which for years have included securing long-term control over the Harbor Center facility.

No one is saying any of this should be seen as a threat to the corridor. But some anxiety would be understandable.

Six years ago, the Board of Education surprised many in Coeur d’Alene by declining to endorse the corridor concept. Three months ago, the board deferred the lease question until September, mostly to get some questions answered. Now the board has canceled the September meeting.

The delays are in sharp contrast with Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem’s enthusiastic assessment that it’s “the chance of a lifetime.”

To relieve the uncertainty, the board needs to schedule a special meeting, give the proposed lease its full attention and do what it takes to move a worthy project toward the finish line.