Land Use

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.  When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin  to use it with love and respect." --Aldo Leopold

Kootenai County and Recent Development

     In the past twenty years Kootenai County has experienced explosive growth.  This trend is likely to continue as more people populate the West and settle in attractive places like this.  The county has beautiful rivers, lakes, and mountains, access to a nearby urban area and an interstate highway, and large expanses of federal and state land.  Its population, property taxes, and land prices are relatively low but increasing.  Private property rights are commonly held to be of higher value than the government regulation of land use.

As a result of this attitude, the 1994 comprehensive plan was passed but never implemented with necessary ordinances.  The county still uses the outdated 1973 zoning ordinance.  Unregulated and uncoordinated development has gained the upper hand.  To minimize regulation, developers argue that private property rights give the landowner almost unlimited powers.

This resistance to planning creates problems.  It produces traffic congestion, air pollution, and a frenzied pace of life.  It allows the creation of isolated subdivisions that lack a sense of community and are expensive to supply with public services.  It promotes development that strips hillsides of trees and invades wetlands, further degrading already imperiled lakes.  It threatens to pollute and overuse the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer.  It creates a checkerboard land use pattern that breaks up rural landscapes, communities, and wildlife habitats.

These are heavy costs to pay for keeping the economy going and upholding unfettered private property rights.  It is a price too many communities have paid nationwide, resulting in a decreased quality of life.

Kootenai Environmental Alliance believes developers, governments, and ordinary citizens can work together to maintain and improve the quality of life available in Kootenai County.  Developers should propose compact, environmentally friendly developments that can be connected to existing public services.  They should also meet with people living near their proposals to present their ideas and receive feedback.  This will result in more informed and better development proposals being submitted for review.  Governments must update balanced comprehensive plans, pass related implementing ordinances, and consistently enforce them.  Voters need to elect officials who will support sound community planning.  Citizens need to organize, become actively involved in the planning process before development proposals are presented to government planning departments, and stay involved as they are processed.

Through this collaborative effort improved land use planning will result.  The private property rights of all parties will be upheld, communities will unify, and landscapes that give people’s lives meaning, support wildlife, and make Kootenai County an attractive place to live will be preserved.

What is KEA Doing?