Kootenai County Comprehensive Plan

Kootenai County Comprehensive Plan Update

SUMMARY

In 2007, the Kootenai Board of County Commissioners directed the Planning & Zoning Commission to update the County's 1994 Comprehensive Plan. As of March 20, 2009, the "final recommended draft" of the Kootenai County Comprehensive Plan has been posted to the County web site. The Planning Commission held public hearings on December 1, 2008, December 2, 2008 and December 3, 2008, followed by six deliberations dates. On January 3, 2009, the Planning Commission completed their review and amendment of the 2nd Draft Comprehensive Plan, resulting in the final Planning Commission recommendation, Draft #3.

The Board held public hearings on May 27, May 28, and June 1. The motion at the close of the public hearings was to take Case No. CP-082-08, the proposal to amend all chapters of the Kootenai County Comprehensive Plan, under advisement to deliberations. A series of deliberations are still being at the County Administration Building.  Click here for dates and times of the Deliberations.

Why is this plan important? 

Very simply, this plan will be the policy guide to the County’s land use for probably a generation.  Moreover, it will provide the basis for a much needed overhaul of out-of-date zoning ordinances and development regulations in the County.  Kootenai County is expected to face a population increase of some 60,000 people in the 20 years covered by this plan -- an increase comparable to another city the size of Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls combined.   The development pressures caused by the population influx will be extraordinary, particularly in rural areas, and it is important that future development needed to accommodate this growth not threaten our drinking water supply, pollute our air and waterways, clog our roads with traffic, or spoil our extraordinary natural and scenic environment.

What’s in the plan?

The comprehensive plan isn’t perfect, but it is the culmination of a great deal of public input, study and careful consideration, and it presents, overall, a good foundation for growth into the future: 

• The plan properly directs growth to existing urban areas, and away from sensitive areas such as lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

• The plan directs growth toward the Rathdrum Prairie, but with the acknowledgement that modern development can no longer support sprawl zoning and small-lot septic systems.

• Very large “planned community” developments would require more up-front study and evaluation of traffic, water, sewer, and environmental impacts.

• The plan provides an overhaul of land-use designations which will be much more effective in controlling sprawl and protecting rural areas and open space. Specifically, rural designations would be less dense in order to stop sprawl and leapfrog development.  For true rural protection, larger lots are necessary – the current 5-acre zoning is simply not sustainable and leads to sprawl.

Who’s opposed to the plan and why?

Developers, realtors, builders and other business interests are frantically organizing to scuttle this plan. They complain that the plan is “too specific” and “too regulatory.” They also object to new land designations in the plan designed to better protect natural areas, open space, and the County’s valued rural lifestyle.  These interests prefer the status quo, where the current rural density allows much more development, and where less specificity in the plan allows for easier approvals of large projects.

Our view is that clarity and specificity in the comprehensive plan will be very desirable when the County begins its overhaul of development regulations.  And perhaps most importantly, future land use designations need to be much more protective in rural areas than they have been.   Even in the economic downturn, development under current land use designations will chew up the rural landscape in the county, and this is why change is needed.

What you can do:

1.  Contact your County Commissioners directly to ask them to support a strong comprehensive plan that protects natural resources and rural communities. 

2.  Attend the public deliberations on the plan. (See the County’s website for the exact schedule:  http://www.kcgov.us/departments/planning/newcompplan.asp)

For more information, contact: Terry J. Harris, Kootenai Environmental Alliance, terry@kealliance.org.