Tempers flare as BOCC rezones disputed site

SANDPOINT – Not a single seat was left empty when Bonner County commissioners held a special Friday morning meeting to rezone a parcel of property adjacent to the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

A highly-contentious issue the past few months, a proposed RV campground is supposed to be constructed on the parcel of property. However, some residents of Bonner County believe that this piece of land has been set aside to build a new justice center, although no evidence of that has yet been brought forward.

Public comment was not allowed at the special meeting, but the commissioners did allow for a letter from Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler to be submitted. In the letter, Wheeler stated that numerous former commissioners had agreed that the property was solely set aside for a future justice center.

“In a Feb. 14, 2019, jail workshop, conducted by commissioners Dan McDonald, Jeff Connelly and Steve Bradshaw, all three discussed and agreed that the future expansion of the jail and courthouse location should be at the sheriff’s complex property,” the letter said.

The sheriff said further on in his letter that if the commissioners do not abandon the proposed RV campground project, they will be “saddling future residents of Bonner County with a hefty tax bill.”

The only items on the meeting’s agenda were the approval for an application to the city of Sandpoint for the rezoning of the piece of property to prepare it for the RV campground.

“It is currently zoned for mix-use residential and requires a zone change to rural residential,” Commissioner Luke Omodt said.

Omodt made a motion to approve the application and called to skip discussion and move straight to a vote – a request that upset many in the audience as well as Commissioner Asia Williams. Although discussion of the agenda item was bypassed, Williams took the time to speak on the matter when she was asked for her vote.

“One of the problems I have with this particular memorandum is that it didn’t go through legal and one of the things it says is not accurate,” she said. “It says that we would be doing this in order to improve Bonner County Fairgrounds but this particular piece of property is not modern Bonner County Fairgrounds. So how can we approve an MOU to improve the fairgrounds when what you actually applied for has nothing to do with Bonner County Fairgrounds?”

If the agenda item had actually been sent to the legal team prior to the meeting, Williams said she assumes they would have told the commissioners that it was drafted incorrectly.

Williams also claimed the county still has yet to request a grant extension from Idaho Parks and Recreation, which granted the county roughly $500,000 for this project. Because of this, she questioned why this rezoning application has so hastily been brought to the table.

“The memo isn’t correct,” she said. “It needs to go back. Bring it again on Tuesday, allow the community to discuss it.”

At this point, Williams requested that sheriff executive assistant Sheryl Messer provide supporting information to help the commissioner make an informed vote, which she reminded the other two commissioners that she is allowed to do. Omodt spoke up, stating that she would have been allowed to call on audience members during discussion, but since they were onto voting, she could no longer do so. When she continued to attempt to gain supporting information, Omodt told her that her idea was lovely, but it was the chairman who controlled the meeting. Commissioner and Chairman Steve Bradshaw agreed, saying he had called for a vote which “ends all discussion, period.”

“I need information in order to make my vote,” Williams responded. “You can’t bypass the discussion and expect me to give an uninformed vote.”

However, Bradshaw responded that he absolutely could bypass discussion and require Williams make a vote without further discussion.

This response created an uproar from the audience, with some members shouting, “tyrant,” “corruption,” and others telling Bradshaw that he “is not God.” After about a minute of disruption, Bradshaw called the meeting back to order.

“I called a roll call vote,” he said. “The rules state very plainly that unless you have a serious comprehensive problem, that when a roll call vote is called, all discussion ceases.”

Bradshaw claimed that allowing discussion on agenda items is “just a formality,” which caused another uproar from the audience, with more shouts of, “tyrants,” and, “what are you afraid of?”

“I am tired of this board overruling the process of allowing me as an elected official to represent the people,” Williams said. “It’s always very clear when you two do your little eye contact thing as, ‘Let’s move past Asia.’ You two have the majority vote. But when you screw our county, make sure you take the majority responsibility.”

The motion to apply to rezone the property passed in a 2-1 vote, with Williams voting no.

Omodt also motioned for the filing of a conditional use permit application in order to conform the project to existing uses. A CUP is a type of contract between local government and a business or property owner that enables them to conduct operations that current zoning ordinances don't typically allow.

When asked for her vote, Williams began to explain why she would be voting no, but was again cut off by Bradshaw who told her she needed to vote.

“You don’t get to mute my statements,” she said, to which Bradshaw responded, “Sure I do.”

This response again was met with yells from the audience who did not agree with Bradshaw’s conduction of the meeting. Many once again hurled insults at Bradshaw, calling him a tyrant, a fake man of God, a small man with a big hat and a joke.

“You can wield your stick all you want, but muting Asia is never going to happen,” Williams said to him. “That is why they elected me. I’m not going to sit in the background.”

The motion for the CUP application passed in a 2-1 vote, with Williams voting against it.