COEUR d’ALENE — Mayor Dan Gookin called for local control and practical solutions to address the city’s affordable housing crisis Tuesday morning when he addressed business and community leaders during the annual State of the City & County Breakfast. 

More than 200 people gathered at The Resort for the event, presented by the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber, where Gookin and County Commissioner Bruce Mattare shared insight into some of Kootenai County’s wins over the past year. 

With the legislative session underway in Boise, Gookin said the vast majority of state lawmakers live far away from North Idaho. 

“They cannot govern Coeur d’Alene better than your mayor and city council, but they try,” he said. 

He pointed to proposed legislation that would limit local government control over short-term rentals, which the city opposes. 

“Legislation is headed to the governor’s desk right now that will strip us of this oversight,” he said. “Doing so degrades the character and charm of our neighborhoods and the quality of life for our year-round residents. It is the position of the city that residential property should not be exploited for profit at the expense of your neighbors who also have rights.” 

When it comes to supporting affordable housing, Gookin said the government’s influence is limited to removing red tape and improving processes that get homes built, thus making things easier and less expensive for developers. 

“The problem isn’t the price of housing but that wages in this country have been flat since we kicked out the unions,” he said. “I’m not apologizing for union greed, which was a thing. But when workers were organized, worker pay increased proportionally to management.” 

Gookin urged the city’s urban renewal agency to fund projects that bring high-paying jobs to Coeur d’Alene that will enable workers to afford housing, rather than “unwrite high-end homes for people who don’t live here.” 

“No one who just served you breakfast or parks your car or teaches your kids can afford to buy a house in the Atlas Mill site, but property tax dollars are going toward funding this development,” he said. “The gentrification underwritten by taxpayer dollars and supported by city government needs to stop.” 

Gookin said his goals include preserving the character and charm of downtown Coeur d’Alene, including through possible building height restrictions and addressing noise. 

He also suggested expanding the concept of downtown to encompass more than Sherman Avenue. 

“We need a wider, deeper downtown to provide interesting things to do for our visitors and for our year-round residents,” he said. 

One of Gookin’s long-term goals is to establish an event center for sports and the performing arts. That idea is in the discussion stage, he said, but a closer-to-reality possibility is a possible arts and history foundation for the city, similar to the Coeur d’Alene Public Library Foundation. 

Mattare touted the county’s recent successes with transportation, including at the Coeur d’Alene Airport, where the new control tower is now staffed seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The control tower increases safety, Mattare said, and air traffic controllers even reroute aircraft so they don’t fly over homes. 

“The aerospace industry, which we’re focused on, is attracting businesses to the airport,” Mattare said. "These bring high-paying jobs. We’re looking at manufacturing with composites and metal alloys, as well as maintenance.” 

Citylink, the county’s public transit system, is seeing increased ridership as the population grows. 

“If people are concerned about funds, one thing I can tell you is there’s plenty of funding for the Citylink program,” Mattare said. “One of the reasons for that is because the administration in D.C. is very pro-commerce and transportation plays a critical role in commerce. We don’t foresee any issues with funding for Citylink in the foreseeable future.” 

Mattare said the county is also looking for ways to improve processes and increase efficiencies. 

For example, he said an assessment of the county’s building permit process yielded major improvements, reducing the average time to process residential building permits from 88 days to 19 days. The average time to process commercial building permits has reduced from 122 days to 44 days. 

“That is a big difference for people who are putting in their permits,” Mattare said. We all worked together to achieve these goals.”