COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County began seeking public input Monday on a draft revision of its existing land-use and development codes.

County Community Development Department director David Callahan and his staff members spent the past year producing the draft, which consolidates and simplifies existing regulations.

"(Callahan's) whole goal was to make something that was usable, and I think he did a great job," said County Commissioner Marc Eberlein.

"It's a lot cleaner," said Commission Chairman David Stewart. "It's substantially more user-friendly."

Stewart said all the county's existing ordinances relating to land use and development turned the county into "one big homeowners association."

Kootenai County should instead be focused on customer service, he said.

"We're here to help the people accomplish their goals, not be a regulatory brick wall," Stewart said.

This public input period will give individuals, groups and businesses time to learn what is in Callahan's draft revision and suggest additional changes before a public hearing process starts later this year.

The draft doesn't, for the most part, change policy aspects of the existing regulations. However, there are proposed changes in favor of property rights.

"For example, the 25-foot 'undisturbed natural vegetation buffer' currently required along waterfront lots has been eliminated," county officials said in a press release Monday.

Eberlein said there is no scientific evidence that proves such a buffer "improves" water quality.

The current regulations are a collection of ordinances enacted in the past 50 years. With the ordinances originating at various times during those decades, there is often overlap and contradiction.

"Consequently, the various regulations are often disjointed, difficult to navigate and at times hard to enforce in a fair and consistent manner," according to the county.

An example of one simplification in Callahan's revision is a new provision for lot consolidations, or the combining of one or more platted lots.

Under the current regulations, lot consolidations can only be achieved through a process that requires an application form and fee, a revised plat - a drawing by a licensed surveyor depicting the lots - and a referral to affected agencies.

That can all take as long as five weeks to approve and another 120 days to record with the county clerk's office. In the proposed revision, two or more lots may be consolidated with the filing of a single form with the county, and it can be potentially approved the same day.

In the next few months, the community development department will make draft revisions available for review to the public.

"Based on the feedback received, ongoing additions and corrections will be made," county officials said. "Following that, the (county) planning commission will hold one or more hearings to take additional comments before making a recommendation to the board of county commissioners."

If approved by the commissioners, the document would become the interim code and serve the county until an update to the 2010 Comprehensive Plan is completed and a subsequent land-use and development code can be produced, "all for the purpose of ensuring the protection of private property rights," according to the county.

Last month, the commissioners ordered an update of the 2010 Comprehensive Plan.

"In several places in the comprehensive plan it says that the intent of that document, which is a visionary document not a regulatory document, is to drive 70 percent of the population to the city," Stewart said.

The failed Unified Land Use Code, an attempted complete rewrite of land-use codes, would have "probably driven 95 percent of the population into the city," Stewart said. "All those people out there who invested in the rural area, they would have lost their investments or it would have financially hindered them, drastically."

Copies of the revised code can be found online at www.kcgov.us/departments/planning. Hard copies are available for review in the Community Development Department office at 451 N. Government Way.

Director David Callahan can be reached at dcallahan@kcgov.us, or (208) 446-1082.