COEUR d'ALENE - A new 130-unit apartment complex is one step closer to reality after the city's planning commission approved a special-use permit for the project.

Rivers Edge Apartments, LLC, approached the planning commission earlier this week requesting a C-17 land use zone for the 3.85-acre property the company owns in the old Atlas Mill area on the Spokane River.

It is the site of the former Stimpson Lumber Office Building.

The company would like the property, which is currently in the county, annexed into the city of Coeur d'Alene with a C-17 zoning, which allows for 34 units per acre under an approved special-use permit.

Planning Commission Chairman Brad Jordan said the commission held a hearing on the project Tuesday and ultimately decided to approve the zoning request.

If the city council agrees to annex the property, Rivers Edge Apartments could construct the 130-unit apartment building.

"We approved it and tied a special-use permit into it," Jordan said. "We wanted to make sure the project is built to look like the drawings they submitted."

Jordan said city staff also recommended the company submit a stormwater management plan, and additional improvements to Seltice Way and the center median to accommodate traffic the project would generate.

The project is a five-story complex with two levels of parking below the structure. It will stand nearly 64 feet high.

Jordan said the high density was granted because the developer wanted to compress the footprint of the project and keep most of the trees on the property.

The developer will now work with city staff to determine what other infrastructure improvements will be needed to accommodate the project.

"The development has to pay its way," Jordan said, explaining that all of those requirements will be determined in the annexation negotiations with the city council.

Jordan said the planning commission's approval of the zone change and special-use permit is contingent on the council's approval of the annexation.