Land use plan will guide Bonner County’s future

Idaho and Bonner County are among the fastest-growing areas in the country. Part of the attraction is our treasured natural surroundings and rural quality of life. 

So it’s all the more important that our community thoughtfully engage in how we want our area to grow so we don’t love our home to death. 

The county is in the process of updating its Comprehensive Land Use Plan (Comp Plan) and Land Use Map. This document serves as a blueprint for how our county will grow over the next 10 years or more.  

The Bonner County Daily Bee and Sandpoint Reader recently published articles on the latest stage of this important planning process (which will inform changes to county land use laws) and opportunities for public involvement through workshops and an online tool. 

As a member of Project 7B, a local nonprofit devoted to promoting public involvement in responsible land use and development, we applaud the county for hosting public workshops and giving the community ample opportunity to weigh in. 

We encourage people to participate in this planning exercise with the lens of what’s best for the community as a whole. How do we maintain the character of Bonner County? How do we provide for growth while protecting the natural resources and rural atmosphere that make this place special and livable? 

Accommodating growth 

A county analysis of land use has found that the amount of land already zoned for residential use is sufficient to accommodate future growth over the next decade. That is good news to folks concerned about rural residential and suburban sprawl into the countryside and mountain foothills. 

In other good news, the Planning Commission listened to overwhelming public feedback last summer and decided to retain a distinction between rural residential areas and areas that are more appropriate for parcels from 10 acres up to 40 acres, called Ag/Forest on the Land Use Map.  

While some map designations have changed, in general the underlying densities allowed by zoning should not change, judging from the Planning Commission’s discussions to date. The county is planning for the future, not changing what’s been done in the past.   

Therefore, we support the Selkirk Conservation League’s opposition to changing land use designations around Priest Lake from Rural Residential to Recreational Resort Community, which was done to reflect the many small parcels along the shoreline.  

This change appears unnecessary (the underlying non-conforming lots are legal) and may have unforeseen consequences, such as zone change requests from neighboring property owners who wish to develop at higher densities in this environmentally sensitive area. Instead of forward-looking, that change makes our revised Land Use Map conform to the legal non-conforming lots that have been in existence for decades.  

Protecting the environment 

County officials told the Bee that any additional subdividing to 12,000-square-foot lots (which is allowed in a Recreation zone now) around Priest Lake would require the existence of “all urban services.” However, the term “urban services” has been loosely interpreted in recent years to include shared wells
— not necessarily community or public systems subject to the regulations of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.  

Currently, the language within the Land Use Chapter of the Comp Plan, which provides some criteria for the land use designations, only calls for “adequate water and sewer services,” which is even more vague than “urban services.” 

The Planning Commission has labored long and hard over writing the Comp Plan, but there’s still a need for some stronger and clearer language to back up the plan’s stated Land Use goal to “… enable the county to grow while retaining its rural character and protecting its unique natural resources.” 

Public input 

Overall, the latest draft of the proposed Land Use Map is an improvement over the first draft and has generally followed the wishes of the various sub-area committees that developed plans that fed into this county-wide plan.  

Now it’s time for the public to weigh in.  

To see the schedule of workshops, a link to the draft Land Use Map and Land Use Chapter, as well as the other updated chapters of the Comp Plan, visit the county’s Planning Department Comp Plan web page: bonnercountyid.gov/ComprehensivePlanCurrent/Update.

For more information about Project 7B, and to stay up to date on Comp Plan workshops and other information about upcoming meetings and land use issues of interest, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BonnerCountyProject7b.

Susan Drumheller is a board member with Project 7B and a 26-year resident of Bonner County.