SANDPOINT — A reconsideration hearing regarding a 24-lot subdivision ended in a unanimous vote of approval as county commissioners agreed that the revised application met county guidelines.  

The Deerfield Subdivision was approved Thursday, Dec. 18, following two continuances for the reconsideration after originally being denied during a Sept. 9 hearing.  

This hearing, commissioners followed suit with Commissioner Ron Korn’s original vote of approval, noting that a Federal Emergency Management Agency review confirmed that the file's parcel was outside of the Syringa Creek floodplain — a concern that resulted in the file’s September denial.  

The 32.67-acre parcel off Baldy Mountain Road is expected to be subdivided into 24 residential lots, ranging from 1 to 3 acres, and one stormwater tract. The property is adjacent to designated floodplain areas, Syringa Creek and Chuck Slough. Syringa Creek borders the southernmost border of the property, leading to that portion of the property originally being within a special flood hazard zone.  

Because the property was within a special flood hazard zone, Bonner County required the property owner to utilize a Federal Emergency Management Agency process that can modify the current effective floodplain, its boundaries and base flood elevation based on current data as opposed to relying on outdated information.   

Base flood elevation is the height that floodwaters are expected to reach during a base flood, which has a 1% chance of occurring in a year. 

Representative Dan Tadic shared during the hearing that there were no established base flood elevations for the Syringa Creek floodplain — a process that the applicants had been working with FEMA to establish since May. This past week, Tadic said, representatives received a response from FEMA accepting the information that the project site was not in the Syringa Creek floodplain.  

Commissioner Brian Domke noted that the original submitted plat was not in compliance due to a lack of information on wetland boundaries. The updated plat presented during Thursday’s hearing, Domke said, was in compliance after FEMA’s approval indicated that the future homes on the property would be about 26 feet or more above the Syringa Creek base flood elevation.  

Commissioner Asia Williams also agreed with Domke, noting that her reason for denying the file was no longer valid because the applicants addressed floodways.  

“They did meet that requirement, which was the only thing that was holding up my decision on this,” Williams said.