COEUR d'ALENE - It's a $350,000 job with a justifiably involved application process.

Today the Kootenai County commissioners will pick the consulting firm that will help the county craft new laws to implement the updated Comprehensive Plan.

The firm will ensure ordinances and regulations uphold the county's 20-year vision for future development, which requires updating laws that are decades old.

"A lot of our ordinances hail back to the '70s. Not all, but many, and so some are really quite aged and in desperate need for improvement," said Scott Clark, county Planning and Building director. "It (the consulting firm) is an extremely important role, and one that the board (of commissioners) is taking very seriously."

To the point, in fact, that folks from across the community were included last Friday in hearing presentations from the four final applicants.

The firms gave presentations to four separate panels, comprised of the commissioners and members of the community, including representatives of the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce, Kootenai Environmental Alliance, Neighbors for Responsible Growth and the cities.

"It definitely impacts everyone in the community," said Commissioner Dan Green. "People have been involved in this for years."

Commissioner Todd Tondee said it was important for all stakeholders to have a say.

"The commissioners were very interested in the public's involvement," he said.

Panel members were free to share their opinions at a debriefing on Saturday, and ranked each firm on a score sheet.

The final decision rests with the commissioners.

"We're trying to decide what would be the best fit for our county, and the best developer to get this done in a timely manner," Tondee said.

Commissioner Jai Nelson said the decision has been difficult, as the firms proposed different degrees of involving the county and the community in the law writing process.

"A couple (firms) were going to rely pretty heavily on our own civil attorney, and some were going to rely a little bit more on our staff," she said. "We had to look at how this is going to affect our budget and our people. They have ongoing tasks at hand."

The county has already budgeted $350,000 to contract a consultant for the process.

All of the county's development regulations will be updated to uphold the new Comprehensive Plan - a beast four years in the making that calls for areas to be designated as scenic, resource recreation, country and suburban.

The plan alone is just a visionary document. Without laws implementing its ideas, it's just a lot of paper.

"It (creating new regulations) is something that was not done back in 1994, the last time we updated the Comprehensive Plan," Green said.

That has created conflicts in the county's development processes, Nelson said.

"What we have currently is very disjointed," she said. "We need predictability and consistency."

A consultant is needed to provide an experienced, objective perspective, Clark said.

"All of them that were interviewed have a lot of depth and understanding, and they can bring to us new ideas and a fresh look at some of these issues," Clark said. "It also provides the ability to have a neutral third party, so they don't come into our community with baggage and be perceived as leaning one way or the other."

The final four firms - down from the seven originally short listed by the county in 2009 - include: Clarion Associates, based out of several states; Duncan and Associates, also with offices across the country; Studio Cascade, based in Spokane; and Kendig Keast Collaborative, with offices in multiple states.

The public will be involved as new regulations are created, Scott assured.

He expects the writing of unified regulations to take about two years. Work will begin after contract negotiations with the consultant, he added.

"Once the contract is signed, we'll hit the ground running," he said.