SANDPOINT — A land use hearing scheduled to take place Wednesday was continued today by Bonner County commissioners following technological issues relating to this week’s windstorm. 

The continuance of the land use hearing — a reconsideration hearing for the Sept. 2 denial of Deerfield subdivision — was approved by commissioners Asia Williams and Brian Domke. Commissioner Ron Korn opposed the continuance.  

About an hour before Wednesday’s hearing, Williams shared in a Facebook post that the meeting would be continued on a “more probable than not basis” after the county had experienced technology issues due to continual power outages at the county’s administration building. However, a decision could not be made until the 1 p.m. meeting due to legal and procedural requirements. In the post, Williams said that the hearing could continue to Monday, Dec. 22. 

The hearing started 10 minutes past its intended start time, with Domke noting that the technology department had been working with several systems and failed pieces of equipment, establishing some form of backup power to the technology in case of another power outage.  

Slight debate over a continuance emerged when Korn said he would be out of office Dec. 22. He also said the technology department indicated there should not be further issues related to outages and technology failures. Domke agreed with keeping the hearing date to have a full board of commissioners.  

Williams, however, noted a lack of community participation at the hearing, which was likely due to the public announcement that the hearing could potentially be continued to a later date.  

After some discussion, the board moved to continue the hearing to Jan. 18 at 9 a.m., an hour before a separate land use hearing regarding an appeal of a proposed gravel pit. It was suggested that the gravel pit hearing will likely be continued to a later date to allow commissioners enough time to review the subdivision reconsideration, a reconsideration that requires a decision by Dec. 26, 2025.