PRIEST RIVER — The City Council voted 3-1 to schedule a public hearing at a later date to decide if the city should plow Finley Avenue at its Dec. 2 meeting.

The request was made by River Mountain Development, which is set to build an 18-lot subdivision called the Valencia Neighborhood. Finley Avenue was formerly an alley, which the homeowner's association said it would plow once the neighborhood was built. 

In the request, the developer said only residents of the development were going to use Finley Avenue, but two more homes have been added outside the subdivision.  

“I think I said it before, but I'll repeat it. Is that the best-case scenario, in my eyes, is that two of you guys get together and share the responsibility of plowing that roadway,” Mayor Jeff Connolly said.  

Councilor Billy Mullaley was the lone dissenting vote to scheduling the public hearing. During the meeting, Mullaley expressed concern about opening the city open to more requests and the precedent of changing an agreement. 

“I would say, just leave it. The residents bought there and knew that this was what it was going to be,” Mullaley said. “I just hate to have the city step in on something, and then next year we have the development come up and say ‘Well, hey, you did it here. Why can't you do it here?’” 

Councilor Candy Turner said she felt the city should be open to changing the agreement because Finley Avenue wasn’t a named street at the time of the agreement. Turner said that if a street is named, then it would be the city’s responsibility to take care of it. 

“Now we've named that street a street, and shouldn't we be taking care of it as a street,” Turner said. “I think we need a hearing.” 

The council voted in favor of scheduling a public hearing, but the developer said they would like to bring it back to the council in about a year's time. 

During the meeting, Planning and Zoning Administrator Jake Gabell discussed the decision by the Bonner County Commissioners to shrink the city’s area of impact and answered several questions from the public. Connolly reiterated the city is not looking to forcefully annex anyone, and that the AOI is a state mandated planning tool. 

Gabell also provided updates on the development of the city’s comprehensive plan. He said he’s working on the second phase of the approved plan, data gathering, and that he’s working on drafting elements of the comprehensive plan. 

“I'm gathering data for a handful of others to include housing, recreation, hazardous areas, agriculture and land use,” Gabell said. “They're coming along pretty well, of course I left the bigger ones for last, so they’re going to be more difficult.” 

Additionally, the council approved two procedure updates brought by Gabell. The first rearranged how the city will handle code enforcement, with a focus on incorporating more departmental collaboration. 

The second was an update to bring the city’s building permitting process into compliance with new state code. Gabell said the changes will also simplify the procedure and provide more clarity for all involved. 

The Priest River City Council is scheduled to meet for the last time in 2025 on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. in City Hall.