Like the pandemic, growth also dominated the headlines in 2021.

From housing and rental prices to the ripple effect as businesses struggled to keep or find employees, there were few areas that growth didn't touch during the past year.

Over the next several days, the Daily Bee will continue to review the top stories of the year, listed in no particular order, as well as several "honorable mentions" from both the region as well as closer to home in Bonner County.

Also making the headlines were the lengthy and severe fire season, a ruling in favor of the Festival at Sandpoint and the city over a pair of lawsuits involving a gun ban at Memorial Field during the summer music series. Also on the list are the arrest of a Sandpoint man in connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, arrest of a Bonner County man on first-degree murder and cannibalism charges, a recount of the county's presidential ballots, the sentence of a Coeur d'Alene woman for the 2017 murder of the former Hope city clerk, the sentence of a man in connection to a 34-year-old cold murder case, and approval of and funding for improvements to the Lakeshore Drive intersection where it meets U.S. 95 at the south end of the Long Bridge.

Growth, workforce housing emerge as critical issues

Like COVID, growth and a host of associated issues, dominated the headlines in 2021.

While a massive influx of new residents helped boost the economy with Idaho ranking near the top of the nation in terms of job recovery and employment, the flip side of growth lead to a higher cost of living, higher rents and housing costs, a struggle to attract employees and businesses limiting hours and days of operation as a result.

Also helping lead the state's economic recovery was the tourism industry, which helped in part by Idaho's looser COVID-related restrictions. In resort towns like Sandpoint, that tourism brought both increased revenue and higher expenses and prompted the city to form a workforce housing task force aimed at identifying and vetting new ideas to solve the area’s workforce housing issues.

The growth resulted in the creation of a number of groups, from a coalition encompassing groups from throughout North Idaho to those closer to home in Project 7B, which aims to encourage public involvement and facilitate planning based on locally shared values; and Keep Bonner County Rural, which aims to restrict urban sprawl, keep rural density low, and reduce “unbridled growth” in the community. As part of that move, KBCR sought an amendment to the county's land use regulations in late November in an attempt to preserve current zoning designations.

The need for workforce housing, prompted by rising rents and limited availability, led Litehouse Foods to ask the city to allow the food products company to change zoning of a site it owned from industrial to multi-family zoning. The request would be rejected by the council members, who said they could not sign off on the plan because the city has not yet done a land use study to determine how much industrial, commercial and residential land would be needed in the city.

In July, the Bonner Community Housing Agency sought to create a new kind of housing in Sandpoint for middle-class families who are being priced out of their homes. The plan means that instead of building housing for what the market will bear, planners will reverse engineer housing based on incomes and the goals of landowners and employers, BCHA Executive Director Rob Hart said.

In calling on county officials to reject proposed subdivisions in the Selle Valley and Clagstone areas — as well as on Camp Bay Road, residents said the developments went against the county's rural character, that too much was being given away to developers at the expense of the county's residents.

In a move aimed at tackling the issue, Schweitzer purchased the former Huckleberry Retirement Center, an assisted living facility, this past summer. Since then, crews embarked on significant renovations, enabling the property to be used as housing for winter and summer seasonal staff with eight double-occupancy bedrooms, a communal kitchen and living room, a recreation room, four shower rooms and laundry facilities.

Fire season proves long, devastating

From the Lee Fire in Coolin in early May to the Trestle Creek Complex near Hope, the 2021 fire season was long and devastating.

By June, officials were bracing for what would prove to be a challenging wildfire season when meteorologists told the Idaho Land Board that the state had its second driest spring in the last 126 years and one of its hottest previous 12 months.

With temperatures hovering near record levels, firework bans were instituted by local governmental agencies and fire districts.

A lightning storm in early July would prove catastrophic, causing dozens of fires in North Idaho and just over the border in western Montana.

The hot weather and the location of fires in challenging terrain hampered firefighters' effort and resulted in Gov. Brad Little's calling up of the National Guard to assist firefighting efforts.

Some like the Trestle Creek Fire near Hope and the Pioneer Fire near Priest River resulted in evacuation orders for area residents.

Type 3 fire crews were brought in to help fight the fires, several more than once, as crews worked to keep the fires from spreading and protect residences and private lands.

It wouldn't be until late August that fire restrictions in North Idaho would be lifted as recent rainfalls and cooler temperatures lowered fire dangers.

By the time fall rains and winter snows ended the fire season, the Stateline, Trestle Creek and Character complex fires in North Idaho would burn tens of thousands of acres and cause the evacuations of hundreds of the region's residents.

City, Festival prevail in gun ban lawsuits

The city of Sandpoint and the Festival at Sandpoint prevailed in two lawsuits filed in connection to a gun ban at Memorial Field during the summer music series.

First District Judge Lansing Haynes granted a request for summary judgment by the city and the Festival in early June, denying a competing request for summary judgment over the ban by the plaintiffs Scott Herndon, Jeff Avery, the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, Inc. and the Second Amendment Foundation Inc.

The decision marks the second lawsuit against the city and the Festival regarding the Festival’s gun ban. 

In the first, between the city and the county, Haynes ruled in favor of the city and concluded Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler and Bonner County lacked standing for the case. 

In the decision, Haynes wrote plaintiffs’ allegations that the city and Festival had intentionally violated their Second Amendment rights were unwarranted, as Idaho law states governmental entities cannot be held liable for the conduct of private entities.

Further, he wrote, most rights secured under the Constitution are protected against infringement by government action. In regard to state action, court precedent states that the question of legality is whether the wrongdoer “is clothed with the authority of state law.”

Plaintiffs had argued that because the city and the Festival acted closely in regards to the summer music series, the Festival’s decision could be argued to be that of the city’s. However, Haynes wrote, the Festival provided its own security, with police only standing by in case of the need for security to make a citizen arrest.

The argument, Haynes wrote, had even less evidence of state action than another similar case where that argument failed.

Plaintiffs further claimed their right to equal protection had been violated by the defendants’ decisions. However, Haynes wrote, precedent states that alleged Second Amendment infringements are better analyzed under the Second Amendment, and not the Equal Protection Clause.