RATHDRUM - It's a little like putting the cart before the horse, but in this case, it's the shovel in the dirt before the permit.

While groundbreaking for the Science, Technology and Research Center (STAR) has already taken place, the project still needs a conditional-use permit before it's an official go.

That could come in two weeks, after a county hearing examiner studies the application and weighs written comment at 6 tonight at the Kootenai County Administration Building. Yet some neighbors still want to prevent it from getting off the ground.

"We wanted to show the level of support there is for this project," said Paul Finman, on the Sept. 30 ceremonial groundbreaking, three weeks before tonight's hearing.

"It was somewhat premature, but it was planned that way to show how many influential people there is who support this."

Finman and his wife, Lorna, founded the nonprofit North Idaho Discovery Association that will fund the building along with science camp fees and sponsors. The 20,000-square-foot center is expected to open in fall 2011 and cost around $2.5 million.

While Gov. Butch Otter, county commissioners and school district officials already celebrated its planned design, some neighbors still plan to fight it. Four people out of 20 who have written comments oppose the project on grounds that it's too big for the agricultural area.

"We don't want to stand in the way of progress," said Sue Goodrich, neighbor to the property just north of Rathdrum off Highway 41 on Willadsen Road. "They're putting this in a place that the county says it wants to preserve."

She said the soccer fields that will be a part of the property are "not compatible with this environment."

Another neighbor, Karen Cooper, implied that the premature groundbreaking was "a psychological chess move," and that the project would destroy the "peace and quiet."

The facility would be open to all area students. NIDA sponsors more than 120 teams that compete in the international FIRST Robotics Competition and offers summer camps.

A third of the building will be dedicated to hands-on exhibits that are free and open to the public. The other two-thirds will be for science and technology education and research.

Finman, who bought the land two years ago and moved there last year, said the majority of support for the project is what he expects the planning commission to consider when weighing the permit.