Appeal hearing for planning director’s minor land division

SANDPOINT — A minor land division proposed by Bonner County Planning Director Jake Gabell has been appealed, with the hearing set for Monday.

After Bonner County commissioners approved the MLD on Aug. 10, neighbors appealed the decision citing several concerns.

The property, which Gabell wants to separate three one-acre lots from his current 6.27-acre parcel on Wood View Road, is zoned suburban.

According to Gabell’s application, each lot would have its own “individual septic and drainfields,” since sewer hookups are not available there.

But, Bonner County Code states that the “[m]inimum lot size where urban sewer and water services are not available [is] 2 1.2 acres” (BCRC 12-412) and the code explicitly states that “septic tanks and drainfield systems'' do not qualify as urban services – “unless subject to an approved sewer management agreement” (BCRC 12-821). No evidence of a sewer management agreement could be found on the county nor Panhandle Health District websites.

Furthermore, in the application Gabell planned for each lot would have an individual well. However, according to a Project 7B press release before the Aug. 10 hearing, “[u]rban services are normally understood to mean public water systems that are regulated for public health and serviced by the nearest city.”

Commissioner Chair Dan McDonald said via Facebook Messenger that “it will be interesting to see what issues they have come up with for the appeal as we really looked at every possible issue that could have possibly qualified for a denial and there just weren't any.”

“Everything on every file is conditional. If Panhandle [Health District] doesn't approve his system or if he can't produce the water he needs to satisfy [Idaho Department of Environmental Quality] then he can't develop,” McDonald continued.

Several process concerns were brought up by Liz Iha, who asked commissioners in an email for a delay to the appeal hearing. She told commissioners “the applicant, Planning Director Jacob Gabell personally requested the file be heard after Labor Day, in the first week of September because he is out of the country fulfilling National Guard duty.”

“My neighbors and I, as well as Mr. Gabell, had reasonable expectations that would be the date range for the appeal,” Iha said.

Iha requested “that Mr. Gabell be present, as was his wish. It is unreasonable to hold a hearing on the file while the applicant is out of the country or not present.” She was also concerned about technical difficulties with Zoom.

Iha also told commissioners that Gabell’s application was never published in the legals and complained that there was only one week of notice – provided by a post on the Planning Department's Facebook page. She added that the appeal file has also never been published.

Iha added that she and her neighbors “were told the administrative approval process was changed specifically to avoid bias. The unusual handling of this one MLD in contrast to the others over a year does not show an avoided bias.” She requested a response from county legal counsel, which she said she has not yet received.

Info: To read Gabell’s application, search MLD0059-22 at BonnerCountyID.gov. The appeal will be held at 11 a.m. Aug. 29 at the County Administrative Building at 1500 U.S. 2 in Sandpoint.