COEUR d'ALENE — A request filed Friday asks the city of Coeur d’Alene to annex a largely developed portion of Blackwell Island.

The currently unincorporated land is owned by Marina Yacht Club LLC, a subsidiary of the Hagadone Corporation, and is leased to the entities that operate The Cedars Floating Restaurant and Hagadone Marine Center. John Barlow, a consultant for the Hagadone Corporation, told The Press a significant amount of money was spent last year upgrading the infrastructure at the marina — including improving the service buildings, adding parking, and increasing the size of the sales area.

"Hand-in-hand with that, business at The Cedars has grown significantly," Barlow said. "We've grown and we now feel it's appropriate, with our infrastructure, to have city sewer and water to accommodate the growth."

In addition to the annexation request, Barlow submitted two other documents to city officials Friday. One is a zoning request, and Barlow said the other is a limited planned unit development request, or PUD, which is necessary to override underlining city zoning ordinances.

"The city has a shoreline ordinance for every shoreline on the lake and river," Barlow said. "The city's shoreline ordinance has a 40-foot setback with no structures, and you can't really operate a marina or get to Cedars with that. So the PUD asks for approval to have the structures necessary to take care of those things."

While Marina Yacht Club LLC would benefit with city utilities, the city would gain new property tax revenue. According to Kootenai County Assessor Mike McDowell, the properties' assessed value for 2016 is $5.58 million and the properties generated $60,000 in tax revenue for the county in 2015. 

Annexation was attempted in 2006, but the effort failed when then-Mayor Sandi Bloem cast a tie-breaking vote against bringing the property into Coeur d'Alene. Barlow said political issues were at the center of the failed attempt to annex the land.

"We're hopeful (that the political climate has changed)," Barlow said. "We don't take anything for granted though."

Submission of the three documents to the city, according to Barlow, is the beginning of the annexation process. The city’s eight-member Planning Commission will determine whether the zoning and PUD requests are appropriate for the area.

If approved, the Coeur d’Alene City Council will make the final determination on the commission's findings. The council, Barlow added, will also decide on the annexation as a whole and council approval of the annexation would begin formal negotiations on an annexation agreement.