Gypsy Bay subdivision gets county approval

SANDPOINT — A reconfigured proposal to develop a subdivision on the Pend Oreille River at Gypsy Bay was unanimously approved Wednesday by Bonner County commissioners.

The board’s ruling caps Blue Heron Estate’s five-year odyssey through the regulatory process and the courts, where an easement dispute was settled.

Brett Appert first proposed an 18-lot development off Gypsy Bay Road in Sagle in 2003. Neighbors banded together to fight the project, citing concerns over added traffic, impacts to adjacent water wells and other issues.

The small-scale planned unit development won approval in 2004, but a request to modify the plat was denied the following year. A time extension on the project was granted in 2006 and it expired this summer, according to the Planning Department.

Appert did not prevail in the easement dispute and the project was resubmitted as a 13-lot subdivision.

“We tried to do a nice job and set it up appropriately and properly for the neighborhood,” Appert told commissioners. “We feel we tried to do the best with what was available to us.”

Adjacent landowner Roger Daar, who said he was representing a number of his fellow neighbors in opposing the project, expressed little doubt commissioners would approve the plan. He called on the county to ensure that measures meant to protect water quality, quantity and the environment are strictly enforced.

“We don’t want this to be an approve-and-forget development,” Daar said.

Commissioner Joe  Young responded that the final plant approval hinges upon sign-offs from the Idaho Department of Water Resources, the Panhandle Health District and other agencies.

“They don’t get final plat approval until they meet all these conditions,” Young said.