COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County Commissioner David Stewart said he didn't attend Thursday night's candidate forum in Athol because he was advised by county legal staff to not talk about a pending controversial land-use request for a site in the Athol area.

Stewart, who is being challenged in the May 17 primary by Chris Fillios, said it was a difficult decision to not attend the forum hosted by the Friends of Timberlake community group.

"I have received information from our legal department that my participation could and most likely will pose a risk of impermissible ex parte contact pursuant to Idaho code because the district court remanded Silver Hill and Cattle Company and Mort Construction case back to the board of county commissioners," Stewart wrote in an email to forum organizers Chris Watts and Jeff Gordon.

"It is a matter currently before the board or, alternatively, one which will come before the board in the near future. In the spirit of not compromising my position as a sitting Kootenai County commissioner in this matter and furthermore not wanting to become a hindrance of open communication among your attendees and other commissioner candidates, I have therefore made the decision to not attend tonight's forum."

In the email, Stewart asked the organizers to share that message with forum participants. However, the email was sent at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Watts told The Press the email wasn't received until after the forum, so it was not read during the event. The forum began at 6:30 p.m.

In an email to The Press, Watts said organizers were focused on ensuring the evening went smoothly in the hours before the forum and email was not checked during that timeframe.

Kootenai County attorney Pat Braden said he advised Stewart not to discuss the ongoing Silver Hill case, a 34-acre zone-change request for a residential proposal near Athol, at the forum.

"If any of the board members talk about a properly noticed public hearing that's considered ex parte contact," Braden said.

The board will discuss at a public hearing on Thursday whether to update a county zone change ordinance that became outdated when a state code was amended in 2013. A judge made that ruling last month and therefore remanded back to the commissioners the earlier decision to deny the Silver Hill request.

However, Braden said he did not advise Stewart not to attend the forum altogether.

"It was strictly his decision whether to attend and answer the other questions," Braden said.

Stewart said it wasn't that he didn't want to attend, but he believed it would be awkward if he did.

"If I'm sitting there and the person next to me is having a conversation about it, I can't be a part of that," he said. "I could have went and left (if the topic came up), but that wouldn't have been good either. It would have been a no-win situation. I felt that if I was there and stopped the process of the community wanting to have that conversation with the candidates, I could be a hindrance to that process."