COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene appears ready to relent on a rule that was never on the books in the first place.

Anyone with fire hydrants on their properties will be able to paint them any color they want should the city move forward and tweak its ordinance.

The unwritten rule - or at least the city's preference - has been traditional yellow.

But after a pair of property owners didn't comply and colored theirs green to blend in with their landscapes, the city is considering throwing the unwritten policy out the window.

"We've challenged them, but the fire department wasn't overly concerned about it," said Terry Pickel, assistant water superintendent, of the two businesses, Coldwell Banker and The Coeur d'Alene Resort, which have green hydrants.

According to city staff reports, The Resort, which has had green hydrants for several years, has been insistent about keeping its hydrants green and "refused to repaint them yellow." Coldwell Banker asked the city during the summer if it could paint its hydrants to coincide with a landscaping project it was doing, was told no, but did anyway.

"Incidentally, he did not do a good job," the report states of that paint job.

Mark Johnson, Coldwell Banker general manager, disagreed with that account. To the best of his knowledge, the business didn't defy an order, though he couldn't be sure.

He thinks hydrants on personal property should be painted, even used as an art contest type of fundraiser for charities. The green ones at the businesses on Northwest Boulevard look good, too, he said.

"They blend in very nicely with the landscape," he said.

Resort representatives couldn't be immediately reached for comment Monday.

The benefit of all yellow makes the hydrants more visible, easier to find in an emergency and simplifies maintenance since only one color of paint needs to be kept on hand for touch-ups, according to staff reports.

The city never actively required them to be repainted yellow since the fire department wasn't concerned with it, Pickel said. The department is trained well enough with proper maps that it knows where the hydrants are, regardless of color. Property owners will have to sign idemification forms relieving the city of liability issues if businesses want to paint them. And the hydrants must be on the property owner's property. If they're on right-of-way areas, like between a street and a sidewalk, it doesn't count. If they're not kept up, the city will re-paint them yellow.

It would affect between 5 and 10 percent of hydrants, Pickel said.

Since it wasn't on the books one way or another, the city's water department requested the city adopt a policy. The Public Works subcommittee on Monday recommended the City Council adopt the ordinance. It will go before the council at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6 in the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.