COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene will consider annexing 22 acres of property in the Mill River site along the Spokane River at 6 tonight.

Around 7 acres sit next to the river, while the remaining 14.82 acres are upland near Seltice Way. The properties are separated by a thin strip of abandoned railroad line.

They sit in the old Atlas Mill Site and have been cleaned up by the property owner, although the bank doesn't have immediate plans for the property.

It wants to annex the property - and possibly join an urban renewal boundary - to improve its marketability, said Sandy Young, Verdis president and principal partner.

"Washington Trust's intent, from the beginning, has been to prepare the site for marketing, first by environmentally reclaiming it and second by securing city entitlements," Young states in a letter to the city council.

Washington Trust Bank took over the parcel of land from developer Marshall Chesrown and Mill Sites LLC., through a deed in lieu of foreclosure in May, 2010, according to bank and Secretary of State records.

The applicant is also requesting zoning prior to annexation. The 14.82 acre parcel would be zoned Commercial 17, which allows duplex housing to commercial uses like mini-storage. The 7-acre piece on the river would be zoned R-12, which allows residential development at 12 units per acre.

WTB has also reached out to the city's urban renewal agency to see if the property could be included in an urban renewal boundary.

"We have also been working with Lake City Development Corp. to either annex into the current River District, or to form a new district of our own," Young's letter reads. "The Lake City Development Corp. expressed encouragement and support of our efforts."

If it's incorporated into an urban renewal boundary, it would mean LCDC's tax increment financing could be available to front some costs for developers looking to get a project off the ground there. LCDC's River District is near the site, and the parcel is contiguous to city limits.

Earlier in the year, the Spokane-based bank obtained permits from the Environmental Protection Agency and Kootenai County to clean up the site, as well as completed an environmental study which didn't identify "any recognized environmental conditions in connection with the site," according to Young's letter.

Young told the city's planning commission in May that public access will be incorporated into future development. The commission recommended its annexation.

The meeting is the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.