Hearing set on waterfront code amendment

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners are taking up a proposal to scale back a waterfront development standard on Wednesday, May 16.

A public hearing on a proposal to supplant the county’s tiered impervious surfaces standards with an across-the-board standard starts at 1:45 p.m. at the Panhandle Health District conference room at 322 South Marion Ave.

The Bonner County Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of the code amendment during a public hearing on April 12, leaving county commissioners with the final say.

The county’s land-use code limits maximum impervious surface coverage at 15, 25 and 35 percent, depending on the size of the parcel. The code change sought by Priest Lake landowners Kevin and Judith Sheffield would replace the graduated standards with a single 35-percent standard.

The code change would apply only to shore land properties in unincorporated portions of the county. Impervious surfaces include rooftops, sidewalks, driveways and other hard surfaces that impede the infiltration of stormwater into the ground.

Impervious surface standards exist to protect ground and surface water resources. Increased impervious cover can result in heightened runoff volumes and stream channel erosion. Stormwater runoff can also contain suspended solids, nutrients, hydrocarbons and pesticides.

Proponents of the code change say the current standard is too cumbersome and overly burdensome to a majority of waterfront lots in the county. They contend the abundance of publicly-owned lands and a suite of other existing standards such as setbacks, vegetative buffers and stormwater management plans will protect water quality.

But not everybody is convinced.

The Idaho Conservation League and other residents urged against the code change or to at least retain the existing standards for residential development adjacent to streams.