County Comp Plan; not there yet
We have heard many divergent opinions on the Draft Kootenai County Comprehensive Plan which is to be expected throughout the development of the plan. However, when considering a final draft, one might expect that the scales would be somewhat balanced and that the goals driving the future growth of our county are collectively viewed by most to be a strong foundation on which to build our future. We are not there yet.
When considering all the complaints and concerns over the plan and the bogged down deliberation process, one must seriously question if this is the document that represents the overall interests of our county.
The very fact that the BOCC has been taking a great deal of time in reviewing and wordsmithing the plan is a good indicator that the draft general plan forwarded to the BOCC fails to represent the views and concerns expressed by a large faction of Kootenai County. In this case it is both the business community and several cities within our county. But can these concerns be adequately addressed by tweaking a few words or numbers? We think not.
As is the case with most comprehensive planning efforts, lines are often drawn between the business community (how the plan affects a sustainable economy) and citizen groups that have organized to bring a specific change. In this plan, the desired change is primarily how we view our rural lands, shorelines, environmentally sensitive areas and the fringes of our cities. All of these elements must be considered together in a healthy plan. A holistic approach is needed.
We believe that this plan is not comprehensive in nature but rather more concerned about regulating than planning or creating a vision.
We have been told that this plan is representative of the voices of the citizens of Kootenai County. If so, why the discord between our citizens?
We have been told that the process is broken. At what point did it break?
Some would say it was broken from the beginning. If the process of gathering and representing all citizen input is biased or lopsided, so follows the document.
In construction, if the foundation of a structure is not solid and true, the problem will persist and even amplify throughout the construction process. Similarly, the foundation of the comprehensive plan must be strong and true if we are to build a plan that fairly represents the interests of all the differing views of Kootenai County.
We have been told that the process has taken over three years and it is time to stop mincing words and adopt a plan. We agree !uc!2026 but not the currently proposed plan.
Painfully pushing through an obviously flawed document by changing a few words or numbers is not the correct approach. This plan needs some foundation reconstruction and the sooner we begin to build a collaborative process to accomplish it, the sooner we can begin building a better plan.
We urge the BOCC to insist upon a more balanced plan from the Planning and Zoning Commission, one that has taken the steps to work through the remaining concerns and issues brought forward by the citizens, the business community and the cities of our county.
The Citizens For Balance board of directors is comprised of Gary Young, Brad Marshall, Rand Wichman, Carrie Oja, Tom Torgerson and Donnie Murrell.