SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners unanimously denied a 22-lot subdivision linked to a 20-year development plan after project representatives failed to bring a will serve letter showing that the project phase could move forward.  

The proposed Golden Tee Estates 11th Edition was denied at a hearing set aside for a continued preliminary plat hearing, where commissioners requested the review of the file’s 20-year-old will serve letter for wastewater services.  

During Wednesday’s hearing, a will serve letter written by Gem State Water on Oct. 7 was presented to the board, shared the community wastewater treatment system had sufficient total capacity for the proposed 22 lots. However, the letter also indicated that the connections were not allowed until Gem State was issued permits by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality — contingent in part on required irrigation storage pond improvements. 

Following the presentation of the up-to-date will serve letter, project representative Jeremy Grimm requested that the board continue the file again to allow Gem State and IDEQ enough time to come to a resolution that would result in the appropriate permits required for wastewater treatment system connections.  

“We are awaiting the discussions between DEQ and Gem State on the issue — We believe they are actively negotiating and discussing the issue. We believe we’ll have perfect clarity from the jurisdiction having regulation, or the entity, which is DEQ, very soon,” said Grimm to the board.  

Hinting at his own opinion that the county was now the developer of the project, Grimm shared that he believed the best solution for the file would be to work with DEQ and recognize the “already approved planned unit development.” 

Despite the request to postpone the hearing to December or January, commissioners denied the file, with Commissioner Asia Williams stating the board’s position is to make a decision on the file.  

“Had they (Gem State Water) brought forward a will serve letter that clearly said they could do this, they would move forward. But they didn’t and arguably are bringing forward all of the reasons that they’re having obstacles doing it,” said Williams. “It’s not my job as a commissioner to remove the obstacle, but to maintain that if they get that information in front of me, that I can move forward.” 

She, along with commissioners Brian Domke and Ron Korn, noted that the communication between IDEQ and Gem State Water was outside of the board’s purview.  

“I do believe that it’s incumbent on the applicant to prove compliance with state statute and county code. I can find at least three county codes due to this sewer service issue that we cannot comply with,” said Domke.  

Golden Tee Estates 11th Edition would be located off North Idaho Club Drive and constructed as part of a master plan vision for the Idaho Club — which proposes 498 dwelling units on 879 acres and other amenities such as the golf course.  

The proposed 20-lot subdivision is part of the master plan’s PUD, where each phase of development is required to go through the preliminary plat process but is governed by the original conditions of the PUD, which allows for deviations of certain requirements of code. 

The proposed subdivision will sit on approximately 7.57 acres of land, with lot sizes estimated to range from 0.15 to 0.43 acres.