Residents and concerned citizens showed up en masse to be sworn in and testify on the record during a public hearing in regard to the proposed subdivision Coeur Terre 2 on Tuesday. 

A part of the larger Coeur Terre project, the proposed Coeur Terre 2 would subdivide 202 acres of land into 284 single-family and 36 multifamily lots, a public park, a public school, trails and more.

More than 80 people attended the meeting, with several speaking to the Coeur d’Alene planning and zoning commission. 

Only one person spoke in favor of the proposed subdivision, Executive Director of the Panhandle Affordable Housing Alliance, Maggie Lyons.

“We are very encouraged to be working with the Coeur Terre team as they designate 5% of the homes as deed restricted, keeping them permanently affordable for local workers,” she said.

Those who spoke against the proposal highlighted traffic, safety and property values were at risk with approval of the development.

Suzanne Knutson, a resident of neighboring development Indian Meadows, felt that the public hearing process was flawed and that the testimony from affected citizens was not being treated with the same care as those from the developer. 

“I am sorry that the three minutes that we are allowed doesn’t allow us time to give you all of our credentials, we are not allowed a land attorney, we are not allowed our own, private traffic study entered,” she said.

She also said that the traffic study that was presented to the commission did not reflect accurate travel numbers.

Tim Bushman spoke about the risk to property values in the area, claiming that the changing of the way traffic works could cause his and his neighbors home values to drop anywhere from 3%- to 15%, depending on other conditions.

“Even if it was 5%, I have a $700,000 home, that’s $35,000 that I am upside down now because of traffic,” he said. 

Concerns were brought up around the already existing traffic on nearby roads, with many speakers saying that the addition of the subdivision will only make the traffic even worse. 

Patricia Martin told the commission that she left her home near the proposed subdivision early for the hearing, only to arrive late because of traffic at Atlas RD and Seltice Way.    

“I waited for over a dozen cars for myself to get to the circle,” she said.

Commissioner Sarah McCracken asked several questions throughout the meeting, eventually proposing three new conditions to the proposal, two of which were agreed upon by the development team. 

The first added condition was that the development team “work with the city on crossing mitigation and calming measures for traffic” near the crossings of a walking trail with Appaloosa RD and Nez Perce RD. 

The other added condition was that the development team, in good faith, work to open the intersection of Nez Perce RD and Atlas RD in close conjunction with the installation of a stop light at the same intersection. 

Mischelle Fulgham, an attorney representing the development team, said that many of the concerned residents' complaints did not qualify as “substantive evidence” and were immaterial to the commission’s decision. 

Instead, she pointed to a Traffic Impact Analysis prepared by CivTech, as well as other expert-gathered data as the only evidence that could be considered when making a final decision.  

“The substantive evidence in the record is really unrebutted,” she said. “That substantive evidence really weighs in support to land use decision by a quasi-judicial ruling for approval.” 

The proposal was unanimously approved by the planning and zoning commissioners in attendance. Tom Messina, the commission chair, Lynn Fleming and Mark Coppess were not in attendance.