By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

The western edge of Hayden is the area of least resistance for developers, as homebuilders push their enterprises farther onto the Rathdrum Prairie from the U.S. 95 corridor.

Coeur d’Alene developer Daugharty Investments LLC is the latest developer to approach Hayden planners with a development proposal that calls for apartment houses on the Rathdrum Prairie.

Daugharty will ask for a zone change from light industrial to multifamily residential for 49-acres along Atlas Road property near the airport.

Daugharty wants to use at least part — approximately 30 acres — of the one-time agricultural land, now zoned light industrial, to accomodate duplexes, triplexes or apartment buildings with a number of residential units on the northwest corner of Atlas Road and Hayden Avenue.

Because the parcel is near the Coeur d’Alene Airport, the airport has asked for an avigation easement — letting potential property owners know the land is near a flight zone.

If the zone change is allowed at the Sept. 16 city meeting, the large grassy tract on the Rathdrum Prairie will abut the 52-home Carrington Meadows development, which has been underway for more than a year.

Melissa Cleveland, Hayden community development director, said Daugharty has not specified what is planned for the land, but multifamily structures could serve as a buffer between the Carrington Meadows single family complex to the light industrial zone on the property’s east side.

“We don’t know what they intend to build,” Cleveland said. “It’s not part of the equation at this stage.”

Once adjacent Carrington Meadows subdivision completes a sewer lift station this fall, full swing construction will begin on the first phase of that project.

The $850,000 lift station being built at Hayden Avenue and Huetter Road will serve new developments on Hayden’s western edge as well as existing homes and businesses — between 1,000 and 1,500 housing units on the city’s west side, city administrator Brett Boyer said.

The Carrington project, a 220-lot development, will be built out in eight phases over eight years and cover 160 acres. The second phase is planned for 2020 and will have an additional 60 lots, Scott Krajack, land development director for Viking Builders, said.

Work on the subdivision started a year ago and homes should be on the property by this summer or fall.

“All the streets are built,” Krajack said. “It’s ready to go.”

The subdivision includes the 52 single-family dwellings in addition to a parcel of commercial development.

Both Carrington and Daugharty projects have a cut out for commercial use that could include a convenience center along Hayden Avenue.

The developments are a mile as the crow flies from two developments on the prairie south of Rathdrum, including the Bluegrass subdivision on 152 acres at the corner of Meyer and Lancaster roads, and the Thayer Farm subdivision, a 179-single family subdivision on 101 acres along Highway 41 and Lancaster Road.

A request for a special use permit for the Kootenai County Humane Society’s new building in the same area is also on the Sept. 16 Hayden Planning and Zoning Commission’s agenda.