Marley steps down as planning chief

SANDPOINT — Changes are under way at the Bonner County Planning Department.

Longtime Planning Director Clare Marley is voluntarily stepping down into a senior planner position.

"I wanted to do less administrative work and more long-range planning and grant writing," Marley said on Friday.

Marley will keep her $65,000 salary because there was nothing punitive about her transition to a different role in the department, according to Cary Kelly, chairman of the county's board of commissioners.

"She's an excellent planner. She knows her stuff - the rules, the regulations, the ordinances," Kelly said.

Nevertheless, Kelly said the commission is welcoming the change.

"We have three fairly conservative commissioners that would like to see less rules, less regulation and lower fees," said Kelly.

Kelly said there was some movement in that direction, but it was slowed by the department's resistance to change.

Marley believes, however, that commissioners may have underestimated her willingness to help them ease regulation and fee structures.

"I believe they maybe saw things a little differently as to how I could have helped them with the balancing of those desires that they had," she said.

Marley's transition took effect on Oct. 13. Marley was hired by the department in 1989 and appointed its director in 2002.

The county is currently advertising for Marley's former position and is seeking candidates who are able to revamp and align land-use codes with community interests, according to the job announcement.

Marley is filling a position that was rendered vacant when former Senior Planner Dan Carlson was fired for reasons the commission won't specify because it's a personnel matter.

There is ample speculation that Carlson's firing is related to the litigious saga involving Shadow Valley and Stoney Brooke lanes north of Clark Fork. The planning department signed off on a plat that the county contends improperly listed Stoney Brooke Lane as legal access to a subdivision.

That misrepresentation forced the county to develop a new route over a disputed right of way on Shadow Valley Lane, touching off an expanding legal tangle involving the county and landowners in the Spring Creek Valley.

Kelly insisted Carlson's ouster was unrelated to the controversy.

"It had nothing to do with Shadow Valley," said Kelly.

Marley, meanwhile, said she is looking forward to engaging in more advanced planning projects, such as planned unit development and commercial development review.

Marley said one of the projects she's most proud of is weaving in encouragement for developers of personal and commercial property to embrace native plants when considering landscaping options to aid soil conditions and curb phosphate pollution runoff.

The project was aided by the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society.

"The things that I'm most proud of are the project's I've involved community groups in," she said.

That project led to the creation of a native plant demonstration garden on the west side of the Bonner County Administration Building with the help of the high school and other groups.

Marley said she's also proud of work she did with the local agriculture community to provide for innovative use of ag lands and more commercial opportunities.

"That was just a really group to work with and our results are already starting to bear fruit if you'll excuse the pun," she said.

Marley is also looking forward to finalizing the county's trails plan. Marley, a former journalist, said much of the plan's text is ready to be written.

"Now the document needs to be completed and that's the sort of stuff I love," said Marley.