Permit fees questioned

SANDPOINT — The pastor of the Cocolalla Cowboy Church is calling on Bonner County to reevaluate some of its building permit fees and to question fees required by other agencies.

The church was built in 2006 and added small porches and roof structures so snow would not pile up and block emergency exits.

“We put covers over those doors so that we could use them 12 months a year,” Pastor Steve Bradshaw told county commissioners on Tuesday.

The modest porch structures, however, required building location permits which included sign-offs from Bonner County Road & Bridge and the Panhandle Health District.

Road & Bridge had already approved the church’s access to Cocolalla Loop Road, so getting that department’s sign-off was easy. The permit also requires a health district sign-off, but Panhandle Health required a $125 fee even though the improvements had nothing to do with septic matters.

“This is something that I wished our county commissioners would look into. If I had a toilet in the porch and was hooking up to the septic system I can see where they might have to sign off on that and get it inspected. But on a porch I had to pay $125 for a fee for nothing. Absolutely nothing,” Bradshaw said.

Since the issue was not on the commission’s agenda, the board could do little else but take Bradshaw’s remarks, and those of the church’s congregation, under advisement.

Dozens of the church’s members filled a conference room at the Bonner County Administration Building on Tuesday, partly out of concern that adjacent wetlands jeopardized Bradshaw’s ability to make any further improvements to a church.

At the time the church was built, Bonner County’s land use code did not have setback standards for wetlands or a requirement for wetlands reconnaissance when building location permits were considered.

That changed in 2008, when the county adopted new land use codes. The new code requires a 40-foot setback for wetlands, in addition to the reconnaissance.

“You have to be able to show you’re meeting a 40-foot setback or that you’re not building in the wetlands if they’re shown on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wetlands map,” county Planning Director Clare Marley said on Monday.

Despite the less stringent requirements under the old code, Marley said she contacted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and found that it had evaluated the site when the prior to the church being built and the agency had no problem with the structure or the additions Bradshaw made.

As a result, Bradshaw was allowed to apply for a permit without any further wetlands analysis, Marley said.

Although the permit requires a health district sign-off, the county is not responsible for the fees the district may impose.

Marley said on Monday that the board has in the past considered relaxing permit fees for open structures such as gazebos, porches and ramps.