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Copeland Bridge subdivision an important
test |
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December 5, 2011 |
For more than five years, James Fox, whose
family owns and manages a considerable amount of
land along the Kootenai River bottom, has been
keeping close tabs on the progress of this
county's comprehensive plan and zoning
ordinance.
He didn't provide input, just watched, and he
liked the direction the county was taking.
Allowing cluster development, by which the
holders of large tracts of land might condense
residential development while preserving the
best attributes of farm and timber land, seemed
to make good sense. He's the first to test this
county's new subdivision laws, beginning with a
public hearing before the county planning and
zoning commission December 15, but his proposal
to develop 30 small residential lots along the
Kootenai River at the Copeland Bridge is
sparking considerable concern, even though it
will set aside around 300 acres of the best farm
land as being restricted from further future
development.
"On it's face, everyone agreed that cluster
development was a good idea," said zoning
administrator Mike Weland. "Based on the comment
I've recieved thus far on this application,
while it may meet the criteria, I don't know if
lives up to the intent. That will be up to the
planning and zoning commission and county
commissioners to decide."
Official information on the application is
available at
http://www.boundarycountyid.org/legals/11061fox/legal.htm.
While little comment has yet been entered into
the public record, concerns have been raised
regarding the ability of Copeland Road to safely
handle more than a dozen new driveway entrances
on the south side of the bridge and a new road
to the north; whether those people who might buy
river front property on the river will have
respect for the dikes that control flooding.
Farmers up and down the valley have expressed
concerns that if that many home sites are built,
and even if the initial buyers understand that
they're buying in the best farm land in the
county, land might be lost to agriculture due to
complaints over the dust, noise, smoke,
pesticides and other essentials of farming that
will likely infringe on the homes that would be
built.
They've seen it across the country, they said,
as close as the Rathdrum Prairie.
Where homes settle where farms once were, that's
the slow end of farming. Nothing else is ever
planted except the lawn.
The land on which these lots are proposed aren't
being tilled, being along the dikes or right
along the river, but those in the area say they
are being used for grazing.
"This isn't idle land," said one farmer.
It may well be prime waterfront land for
residential development, some say, and developed
homes along the river would benefit not only the
developer but the county tax roll, but those
opposed point out that Boundary County has been
fragmented by many such subdivisions over the
years with the best intentions, which now sit
empty ... without homes, without productive
farms, without productive timber and without
those who'd invest in either of the latter
because of the potential that they could become
homesites.
And this application is only the first.
"There were two more similar applications filed
the same time this one was, situated to the
south of the Copeland Bridge, for around 70 more
lots ranging in size from 2 1/2 to three acres,"
Weland said. "Because they were filed so close
to deadline, I wasn't able to get two of them
scheduled for public hearing, but they will go
before the county planning and zoning commission
in January."
The planning and zoning commission will make a
recommendation to county commissioners on each,
and commissioners will hold a second public
hearing on each, each on its own merits, before
a final decision is rendered. No matter what
their decision is, whether they approve or deny,
it can and likely will be challenged in a court
of law.
"This first application is going to have
long-lasting implications for the county,"
Weland said. "It's going to set precedent.
That's why I hope that everyone with an opinion,
be it for or against, takes time to make their
voice heard so that the decision made by the
county is sound and defensible in a court of
law."
The deadline for written comments on the
proposal is 4 p.m. Thursday, December 8. Written
comment should be sent to Planning and Zoning,
P.O. Box 419, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805, or
emailed to
planning@boundarycountyid.org.
Those interested should not attempt to contact
their P&Z representative or their county
commissioner; Idaho open meeting laws and the
right of due process prevent them from taking
any comment not in the official record or
outside public hearing. |
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