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County P&Z agenda set for December |
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December 7, 2011 |
The Boundary County Planning and Zoning
Commisison will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday,
December 15, to approve past minutes and to take
under consideration the first platted
subdivision proposed in Boundary County since
2005, and the first under new zoning laws that
allow consideration of clustered development.
It's likely to be an interesting meeting, as the
application proposes the development of 30
residential lots with Kootenai River frontage,
ranging in size from 2 1/2 to a bit over three
acres in size, both north and south of the
Copeland Bridge.
Information on the application is available in
the county planning and zoning office, located
downstairs and immediately left of the
stairwell.
Partial information is also available on the
county website at
http://www.boundarycountyid.org/legals/11061fox/legal.htm.
"Everything in the application can't be put on
line," zoning administrator Mike Weland said. "I
always encourage both applicants and those
interested in public matters coming before P&Z
to stop in and take a look at the file; it is
public information and I do my best to make it
available to everyone who asks. In situations
like this, where there are legitimate concerns
on both sides of the issue, it's the only way to
understand and hone testimony to the issues
raised, either pro or con."
The public hearing on this application, 11-061,
will not result in a decision; under the new
county zoning and subdivision ordinance, platted
subdivision applications can only be approved by
Boundary County Commissioners, and the
application will require a second public hearing
before that final decision can be rendered.
The nine members of the Boundary County Planning
and Zoning Commission will each be sent the
application, the staff analysis and all written
comment submitted by the deadline Thursday,
December 8, and they will be taking testimony
from everyone interested at the hearing December
15.
They will be asking questions, weighing evidence
and testimony so as to develop "well reasoned"
written findings in support of the
recommendation they make, and that
recommendation will be sent to county
commissioners and scheduled for public hearing
before our elected leaders after the draft
written by the zoning administrator is approved
by P&Z chair Dan Studer.
"Public comment is essential," Weland said, "but
it has to meet the requirements of Idaho's open
meeting law, or the process is tainted. Anyone
can talk to me, but I can't really tell or offer
anything, ... the decision is not mine,
thankfully. All I can do is enter it into the
public record, when asked, available to anyone
who would inquire.
Talk outside the public hearing process to a P&Z
member or a county commissioner, and they will
most likely say, "I can't talk about it." Doing
so could force them to declare "ex parte"
contact, and force them to step down from
rendering a hard decision on behalf of the
people of this community who elected them to
make these hard decisions on our behalf.
Even then, Weland said, every decision made is
subject to appeal or law suit.
"No decision, well thought out or not, is final
until it runs the course of the legal process,"
he said. "The people of this county spent more
than a year developing a comprehensive plan, and
more hard years were spent by the P&Z commission
and county commissioners to enact a set of land
use rules to get us to where the people of the
county told us we want to go, even where no two
answers were the same."
On Thursday, December 15, 5:30 p.m., in the main
courtroom of the Boundary County courthouse, the
county will begin the process of learning
whether or not our new ordinances work. The
decision will depend on whether or not those
interested get involved.
"There are many people in this county who
believe that the rights of the property owner
are sacrosanct," Weland said. "For whatever
reason, they accept the fact and say nothing,
even when the thing the neighbor proposes might
have a direct impact on where they live or what
they do to earn a living."
It may be hard, but they put the trust and
burden on those we elect to take into account
what is best for Boundary County, and live with
the decisions made. Those decisions, they trust,
will be for the "greater" good. |
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