City mulls Settlement de-annexation
PRIEST RIVER — After annexing hundreds of acres east of Priest River into the city over a decade ago, Priest River officials are looking at de-annexing after development plans for the area never came to fruition.
The topic came up at the Jan. 7 City Council meeting after a landowner in the East Settlement area requested de-annexation from the city.
“Rather than the one property, I would propose that we take a look at the whole thing,” said Bryan Quayle, city Planning and Zoning director.
Over the last couple of years, he said, there has been discussions both in-house as well as, informally, with the county about potentially de-annexing all of what Quayle referred to as the Settlement annexation. The city has de-annexed some of the parcels that were part of the original annexation, he said, which was done in his absence. De-annexing the single property also creates connectivity issues, Quayle said.
“It essentially comes down to a point,” he said. “You can have connectivity with a point ... I don’t suggest it. It is not a very good idea for a few reasons, if nothing else than for some general planning purposes.”
According to Priest River Times archives, the city approved annexation of The Settlement area on Aug. 11, 2008. A North Idaho developer, William Radobenko of R&R Leasing, had plans for an 18-hole golf course community encompassing approximately 950 acres. The development was expected to add up to 500 homes to the area and bring approximately $1.9 million in tax revenue to the city. The revenue would have helped the city upgrade its aging utility systems, according to the archives.
Plans for a golf course community in the area, however, date back to 2001 when Priest River resident Donna Collier, founder of Valencia Wetland Trust, purchased the 291-acre site that had once been home to the Louisiana-Pacific sawmill. According to an article on the mitigation banking conference website, Collier purchased the property with the intention of developing a residential golf course community, but after learning about the wetland banking program from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she decided to develop a wetland bank instead.
Mayor Jim Martin said when the city annexed the Settlement area, they also annexed East Settlement Road among other roads that then became the city’s responsibility. The revenue generated from taxes are only off the base value of the property at the time it was annexed, Martin said. As the city pays the county approximately $10,000 annually for basic road maintenance of East Settlement, Martin said the city is “not making a whole lot of money” off of the properties. Also, he said, all of the lots were initially supposed to be smaller, half-acre parcels.
“When that didn’t happen, now we still have these 20-acre-plus pieces of property out there that still have timber exemptions or (agriculture) exemptions or all these different things, which normally you don’t have in a city,” Martin said.
City clerk and treasurer Laurel Thomas told the Daily Bee that while she is not sure why the particular property owner is requesting de-annexation, one advantage of de-annexation could be not having to follow city-adopted zoning or building codes. They would, however, be subject to county services, as well as zoning and building rules and regulations, she said. Disadvantages of de-annexation for property owners, Thomas said, could include discontinuance of city provided services, such as the availability of utilities, city police coverage, and city maintained streets among other services.
A public hearing will be held before any decision is made by council members. Thomas said she does not expect to see the proposed de-annexation on the council agenda until late February or March at the earliest. The Jan. 21 meeting is canceled in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so the next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Feb. 4.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.