Kootenai County's draft Unified Land Use Code (ULUC) has major structural and economic problems not found in its technical superscripts and footnotes. I will review the most critical problems, which can and should be addressed before enactment.

Structurally, the ULUC substitutes private decision-making with public economic and social planning. A dynamic economy in a privately ordered free society is not envisioned. The drafters aggressively pre-determine the use of the 33,000 or so parcels in the county. Every parcel is zoned, even though Idaho Code section 67-6511 only calls for zoning "where appropriate." Privately planned land uses must meet finely-detailed "standards," even though Idaho Code section 67-6518 states the County "may" impose specific standards for development. Between the ULUC's detail and the constitutional doctrine of takings law, there is precious little breathing room for landowners. Overall, the ULUC preserves the environment by driving growth into the cities and putting a velvet rope around the rest of the county like a museum. Its scope is constitutionally overbroad with little flexibility, except at the discretion of Kootenai County. The structure of the ULUC is one of inappropriate governance.

These structural problems will trigger economic dysfunction, not only within county government, but in the local economy.

On Jan. 15 I asked Scott Clark, the director of community development, about the county's plans for ULUC implementation. His answer was nonspecific, indicating poor preparation. I see little evidence the county has either planned for this transition or made a thorough cost-analysis of it. The county lacks the management talent and the budget to implement and administer it in its draft form.

For county administration, this ULUC involves significant issues of personnel training, internal workflow process realignment, analysis and implementation of interim and long-term staffing needs, and costs related to interdepartmental and public education. It is more law than the county can handle.

Kootenai County has an unemployment rate over 7 percent. KTEC, the new high school vocational facility, will soon begin graduating hundreds of students.

Under the ULUC, work for those kids will probably not be available in Kootenai County. With little humility, the drafters assume comprehension of potential business' cost structures by determining each parcel's use and by assuming new businesses will be allowed to relocate in a city. Such economic planning is a mistake. Recalling the recent fights over the asphalt plant, we should understand that this draft plan will drive jobs and industry out of Kootenai County.

Aside from a few people, private citizens do not have the money to live with this ULUC. It mandates a level of complexity for land use approvals that purposefully discourages private investment and landowner planning. Plus, equal treatment of landowners through enforcement of this massive code is unlikely. The current county-preferred method of code enforcement will remain. Neighbors will monitor and report their neighbors' wrongdoing, which inappropriately encourages erosion of social cohesion and encourages more government controls.

In my next column, I will suggest some simple fixes that prudent county commissioners should insist are built into the ULUC.

Mr. Macomber is an Idaho, Washington, and Montana licensed land-use, real estate, construction, and water law attorney practicing for six years.