Ledges ruling is postponed

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners put off a decision Wednesday on a proposed hillside housing development at Morton Slough until more information about fire access and suppression is nailed down.

The county commission is scheduled to resume deliberation of the development at 2 p.m. on July 23.

Board members appeared close to rendering their decisions on the controversial Ledges Over Pend Oreille proposal following a four-hour hearing, but stopped short due to the lingering fire safety question.

At issue is the Sagle Fire District’s willingness to accept steep road grades if homes on the development’s upper terrace are equipped with internal fire sprinklers. Fire Chief Rob Goodyear, who did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, supplied correspondence to that effect, but Commissioner Joe Young said firefighter accessibility to those homes remains hazy.

“I want his clarity on the record,” Young said.

The 33-lot housing plan on 320 acres entered the hearing with a do-pass recommendation from the Planning Department, a don’t-pass recommendation from the Planning & Zoning Commission and a cloud of criticism from neighboring landowners.

Designers of the project billed it as a modest proposal which features 33 percent open space, barely a mile of new road construction, generous waterfront buffers and a restrained density. The property’s rural zoning affords one unit per 5 acres, which would have allowed 64 units.

“This is half the allowable density,” said Marty Taylor, a certified land use planner and former county planning director who is representing the developers.

Much of Taylor’s presentation involved the systematic rebuttal of the opposition’s abundant arguments against the proposal. Contrary to claims stating otherwise, Taylor said the project has lawful access to Lakeshore Drive, carefully surveyed boundaries, a Panhandle Health District-approved sewage plan, an archaeological clearance and a design that does not involve any wetland disturbance.

Just over 20 people testified during the hearing, a majority of whom were opposed to the project. Nearly 20 more people signed up to testify, but they left as the hearing wore on.

Members of Morton Slough Matters, a citizen group which formed to fight the project, hammered the proposal as a threat to wildlife and waterfowl habitat, and the slough’s bucolic setting. Opponents also branded the project a firetrap because of steep, forested hillsides and a single road leading in and out of the property.

To address fire safety concerns, developers consulted with Sagle Fire to devise a mitigation package which involves creating three upland “safe zones” that will be cleared of vegetation and outfitted with 10,000-gallon water storage tanks. Roofs, decks and siding on upland homes would be constructed of fire-resistant materials.

But opponents scoffed at the fire mitigation measures as practically useless features which would impart a false sense of security. Project foes insisted the county hew strictly to the International Fire Code.

“You shape the battlefield,” said Don Bluhm. “Shape this so people can survive.”

During the board’s deliberations, Commission Chairman Lewie Rich said the fire code imparts a lot of discretion to fire chiefs. Moreover, the code is not officially part of the county’s rules.

“We have not, as a county, adopted the International Fire Code,” said Rich.

Commissioner Todd Crossett questioned the project’s impacts on important wildlife habitat.

“The density is too high to adequately protect that area,” he said.