'Gross' comment raises eyebrows, ire

REFER:

Change in attitude key to housing fix/Editorial, A4

HAYDEN — The word "gross" was uttered Tuesday evening by Hayden City Councilwoman Sandra White in response to a discussion about apartments being built off Hayden Avenue.

Although she was off camera, the mic clearly picked it up.

Hayden Mayor Steve Griffitts is not pleased.

"That is totally unacceptable," Griffitts told The Press Friday.

"The people who are living in those are deputies, are teachers, are nurses. There are couples with two incomes that are raising families," he said. "None of those people have an opportunity to buy a home yet and we’re referring to them as gross? It's unacceptable."

White's comment was in the midst of a request for an amendment to an annexation agreement that would allow for different types of housing to be built on roughly 12 acres in that area presently zoned single-family residential. The discussion was with Ray Kimball, representing Viking Construction, during the Hayden City Council meeting.

"The median home price in the city of Hayden is well over $500,000," Kimball said. "While that seems like a bargain for people coming from Portland and Seattle and California, for the people who are recently graduated from high school and working at jobs or maybe graduated from college and grew up here and want to move back to their hometown, they don't have much of an opportunity at $500,000 to do that, to achieve a home, homeownership in a meaningful way at a reasonable price."

He said amending the agreement would help provide less expensive housing.

"The idea is to try to get someone into that entry level market," he said. "I don't know what that looks like. I don’t know if it’s townhomes, I don't know if it’s twin homes, I don't know if it’s just small single-family lots. I don't know what that looks like. The goal is to try to provide something for people who've grown up here and live here and would like to continue to live here and not in mom’s basement."

Councilman Ed DePriest asked how many units are going up on the north and south side of Hayden Avenue. Kimball replied 144 units, then White was heard saying, "Gross."

White was not available to speak with The Press on the phone but responded via email.

"I was making a pun on the number 144, which is a gross. That's all," she wrote. "That's all. Most people who know me know that I like to make puns."

White attended Christian Heritage College in San Diego and moved to North Idaho eight years ago.

"Over the years, the Whites would come to Hayden to visit family and they fell in love with the area," White's bio on cityofhaydenid.us reads. "Sandra and her family jumped at the opportunity to move to Hayden in 2014. They were able to purchase their first home and truly settle down in a town they love."

By a 2-1 margin, White defeated longtime incumbent Jeri DeLange in last November's city council election. White ran on a platform of limited growth.