Lame duck rezoning at work in county

It is difficult to decide what to call this. If you haven’t heard of the rezone at Dufort and Vay, listen up. A developer bought 11 acres in a Rural 5-acre zone. So he can have two lots of 5 acres. But, of coarse, he wants more. So, the Bonner County Planning Department allowed him to skip the step of applying for a Comprehensive Plan change and go straight to a rezone. He wants to change to a commercial zone, with five 1-acre parcels and a larger lot. The problem is that all the surrounding parcels are Rural — 5 acres, so changing it to commercial would set a huge precedent. They call this spot zoning and it is unlawful and it will be the source of endless legal battles in the county. Taxpayers beware. Also, there is already a commercial zone less than a mile away. So goodbye, rural Idaho.

It gets better. Two-thirds of our commissioners will be leaving in 10 days after the Dec. 21 meeting that decides this. So the new commissioners will be faced with endless lawsuits for either following the new precedent or following existing law. Either way the county (us taxpayers) get sued.

If you would like to help protest this and ask (preferably before Dec. 10) our commissioners to delay the decision for this until the new commissioners come on board:

Call 208-265-1438, Bonner County commissioners office; or email Bonner County Planning, planning@bonnercountyid.gov; Steven Bradshaw, Steven.bradshaw@bonnercountyid.gov; Jeff Connolly, Jeff.connolly@bonnercountyid.gov; or Dan McDonald, dan.mcdonald@bonnercountyid.gov.

MAUREEN PATERSON

Priest River