PRIEST RIVER — Bonner County’s comprehensive plan is just vague enough to address the entire county, yet not specific enough to address specific areas, said Milton Ollerton, Bonner County Planning director.

To more closely address those specific areas, planning staff began meeting with communities across the county and creating subcommittees about a year and a half ago, due to concerns over the potential impacts of current and trending growth pressures.

“We began to realize that the different areas of the county had different ideas of how they saw planning and zoning and how they saw growth, and how they saw things happening in their area,” Ollerton said. “... We want to make sure that the decisions we make, and the direction that we go, matches what the community wants.”

The committees are made up of community members from specific areas of the county and are tasked with creating subarea plans for those areas. Committees have already been created for the Selle Valley, Sagle and Blanchard areas. The purpose of Monday’s meeting at the Priest River Senior Center was an informational session leading up to the creation of a committee for the Priest River and Oldtown area this winter. They will also be forming a committee for the Priest Lake area.

“We want to try and create a subarea comprehensive plan that is specific to this area,” Ollerton said. “... We will be addressing things like transportation and roads, and recreation areas, land use designations and density, and we will be talking about what this area is going to look like in the next 20 to 30 years.”

Jason Johnson, floodplain manager for the county planning department, said the subarea plan is a statement of vision, a set of goals for the community, a decision-making guide for development in the future, and a framework for more specific planning. It is not a zoning ordinance, a static document, a budget, or a parcel-specific policy statement, he said. Once the subarea plan is adopted, he said, it is “basically law.”

“There is a multi-step process, Johnson said. “The committee does the hard groundwork of forming all the details of the plan, then it goes to the planning and zoning committee, who will review and could potentially make a few changes.

Hopefully they approve it, and then it moves up to the Bonner County commissioners where it gets approved again ... After the Bonner County commissioners approve it, it has the same force of law as the Bonner County general comprehensive plan. So technically we are here writing laws, is ultimately what we are going to be doing.”

The area the committee will address in the subarea plan is outside of city limits, as the county has no jurisdiction in the cities, Ollerton said. The committee will determine the planning area, which Ollerton said will likely be around 120-140 square miles.

There was some confusion among community members attending Monday’s meeting in that planning staff is looking for people who live or own property in the planning area to join the committee, however the committee, after it is formed, will determine the boundaries. In general, Ollerton said they are looking at going south of Oldtown to somewhere around Tweedie Road and directly east from there, across the Hoodoo Mountain area.

From there, the boundary would circle up to the east and north of Priest River, though planning staff were unclear exactly how far that boundary would go. Ollerton and Johnson’s advice was for anyone interested in being on the committee to submit their letter of interest, with their address, even if they are unsure whether they will be within the boundary.

Priest River and Oldtown residents asked that city residents be included in the process as well.

“I think we should get as many diversified people involved in this process as we can to get views from everybody,” said Oldtown Mayor Lonnie Orr.

Ollerton and Johnson agreed and said while they are primarily looking for people in the outlying areas to join the committee, city residents are encouraged send their letters of interest as well.

“We want you to leave thinking this is a positive thing, this is a great opportunity,” Ollerton said. “Sometimes we say things that may be alarming, but that’s just because we kind of feel an urgency, especially as we’ve been out in the communities, we feel an urgency to protect and preserve that rural character that you folks have had and established. We want so much to emphasize that this is your plan.”

The committee will be made up of nine members will three alternates, who will meet once a month. The Bonner County Planning and Zoning Commission will begin an interview process in December to determine who will serve on the committee. Letters of interest should be submitted by Nov. 30 via mail to 1500 Highway 2, Suite 208, Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864; or via email at planning@bonnercountyid.gov.

Planning staff wil host another meeting for the Priest lake area at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7, at Priest Lake Elementary, 27732 Highway 57.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.