SANDPOINT — A land use hearing for a requested zone change in Hope has been continued to May to allow the applicant time to address issues noted in letters from the Sam Owen Fire District and Bonner County Road and Bridge, among other claimed concerns found in the file’s staff report.  

The 15-minute hearing started with a request to continue by project representative Elizabeth Koeckeritz to address agency comments that raised concerns of the file’s approval. According to Koeckeritz, the continuance would give the applicant enough time to “come forward with the absolute best foot forward” and communicate with the county’s new planning director.  

“We’ve been working with the fire district and are starting to make some outreach to the road department. We think it’s really important that when bringing this application forward, we’ve put our absolute best foot forward, and so I think there’s some additional work that we can do from our end,” Koeckeritz said.  

Koeckeritz did not provide in-depth information on what was missing/inaccurate about the file.  

Applicants are seeking a 1,153-acre zone change from Rural 10 to Recreation near Hope Elementary School and the Hope School Road intersection. 

Commissioner Asia Williams was opposed to the continuance, as she believed the applicant had ample time to be prepared and communicate with the various entities that raised concerns.  

“It sounds like your reason for a continuance is, I’ll just say it plainly, anticipating a denial based on what the record currently is. And you guys want to improve the record by the time it comes to our board,” Williams said. “They’ve had that opportunity to do that the moment that they got the denial.”  

The zoning commission recommended denial of the zone change on Oct. 23, in a 3-0 vote — commissioners Jeff Poulson, Michelle Johnson and Joe Mauk approving the denial and Commissioner Brett Blaser abstaining from the vote. 

Commissioner Ron Korn was in favor of the continuance, saying that there was no legal reason to deny it, and that it’s their job to “represent the people,” giving them every opportunity to “make sure they’re ready to go and their application is complete.”  

Commissioner Brian Domke attended the hearing via Zoom and agreed with Williams that sufficient time had passed to address concerns with the county entities, but stated that he was in favor of a continuance to allow any potential inaccuracies in the staff report to be addressed.  

“I’m hearing the applicant’s representative say that they believe there may be inaccurate information in the staff report. I would like to not have that be a potential issue that would become a basis for an appeal to have to do this over again,” Domke said.  

Commissioners moved to continue the file in a 2-1 vote, with Domke and Korn in favor and Williams against.  

The applicant’s concerns stem from agency comments from the county’s Road & Bridge Department and Sam Owen Fire, both of which expressed concerns about infrastructure impact, should the project be approved.  

Road & Bridge officials noted that the roads affected by the zone change are “NOT capable of handling the increased traffic that could ultimately be generated by the change in zone density,” according to an agency review of the file. The department further said U.S. Highway 200 is also incapable of accommodating the potential long-term increase of traffic.  

Sam Owen Fire District also raised concerns if the project was approved, citing issues of property access for emergency vehicles due to narrow roads and undeveloped access points.  

“There is access on Hope School Road, which turns into Domar Road. Hope School Road is adjacent to Hope Elementary School and passes within feet of the school buildings, buses and parking lots. Having a major access road next to the elementary school is cause for concern for student/child safety,” the agency comment read.  

The district also raised concerns about access to the Sam Owen Peninsula as a whole, stating that the potential for disaster increases greatly in the event of a wildfire and a lack of access/exit routes.