COEUR d'ALENE - Developers get a little more time to wait out the economy.

The Kootenai County commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to approve a temporary ordinance allowing an extra extension for development projects paralyzed by the recession market.

But that doesn't mean developers are getting a bailout, the three officials said.

"The county is not responsible for guaranteeing a subdivision is successful," said Commissioner Todd Tondee before the vote in the county Administration Building.

The new ordinance will provide up to a 2-year extension on land use approvals and financial guarantees for projects, including: planned unit developments, conditional use permits, special notice permits, condominium plats and various subdivisions.

The intent is to help projects that could not get off the ground because of the current construction market.

"I think this is a good-intentioned ordinance," Tondee said.

The commissioners broadened the qualifications to include anyone whose final project extensions had expired between 2009 to 2012, instead of the originally proposed 2009-10 window.

The officials also struck the previous requisite that developments must be nearly completed to qualify.

"That's contrary to the reason (for the ordinance)," Tondee said. "If they were nearly completed, they would sell them and not need any money."

Steve Syrcle, member of the county Planning Commission and an engineer, said he knows several developers who will benefit from the measure.

They have struggled with obtaining financing to build after going through the county approval process, Syrcle added.

"A lot of their situations, if they could have gotten funding, they would have (finished)," he said.

Banker Lon Jordahl testified on the importance of the extension for developers who haven't started building their projects yet.

"If you've got a preliminary plat approval, you've probably spent a couple hundred thousand dollars," Jordahl said of major subdivisions. "Now in this bad economy, banks won't loan and people won't buy. I don't think anything done by a developer will be able to get off the ground for awhile."

Rick Gunther spoke of his own struggles with a 60-lot subdivision.

After investing millions into installing sewer for the property, he said, he and his partners haven't been able to push the project further.

"We're doing everything we can to keep it going," he said.

Developer Bob Turnipseed said he wishes the extra extension could be for more than two years.

His current four-phase development, Double T Estates, will take several years to complete, he said. He remembered another development that took 18 years.

"Two years is not long enough for a big subdivision," he said.

The only opposition to the ordinance came from Hayden resident Peter Cooper, who thinks the recession provides a ripe opportunity to end suburban sprawl.

"Developers have invested their life savings into that sprawl, and now they're caught with their pants down. Tough luck," he said.

Commissioner Rick Currie noted how little opposition there had otherwise been throughout the ordinance process.

"If the public really had concerns, they would have been here to voice them. Or they would have come to the Planning Commission hearing," Currie said.

Those who apply for the extension must submit a written request to the county with evidence of substantial hardship. The commissioners did not define just what will warrant an extension.

As the measure is only intended to help developers through the recession years, the ordinance expires on Dec. 31, 2012.

The extensions will take affect when current extensions expire, or, If they have already expired, on the date of the new extension approval.