Proposed land use rules an improvement
The new Kootenai County unified land use code being written will replace more than 30 existing ordinances and be much easier to work with and administer. This is a good thing. Builders, developers, and citizens want a dependable, fair and consistent set of rules to follow.
With lots of opportunity for citizen involvement, the consultant, Kendig Keast, is drafting a new set of land use regulations. This new code will be based on the guiding principles of the adopted comprehensive plan. When the draft is complete, it will be heard in public hearings, the Kootenai County Planning and Zoning Commission will provide a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners who will either adopt/deny the new code.
There have been many comments throughout the county regarding the development of the unified land use code. Some are negative and/or politically motivated. After all, it is the election season and the county commissioners are facing challenges on a broad front.
The negative comments usually focus on property rights and how the new code will remove them. Spreading fear and raising challenges to change is pretty standard fare when elections are forthcoming. The truth is that the new land use code will provide consistency, fairness, and will reflect what's in the Comprehensive Plan.
Private property rights are foremost in the code discussions and always have been. There are provisions in the proposed code that greatly expand the options that property owners have to deal with issues of non-conformity. This is a huge step in a positive direction that provides a simplified process for many non-conforming uses to become conforming.
The Unified Land Use Code should not be fodder for political gain. It is not finished. It has not had the benefit of public hearings and has not been adopted. Candidates should be evaluated by their accomplishments and not their promises. There will be areas within the new code that some may view as reducing property rights. This is inevitable when balancing competing needs and public services.
Most residents of the county have very little contact with planning and building processes. We buy a parcel of land or a lot created by a developer and have a home built by a contractor. We sign our closing papers and go on with our lives with little involvement with planning and building. We may, on occasion, participate in some form when someone wants to do something with real estate in our neighborhood or the larger community.
Nonetheless, the process of planning is important and affects us as taxpayers and affects the economy. If regulations are difficult to understand and follow, it costs money and it makes it difficult for new business to locate in our county. Bottom line; there are many positive outcomes in the proposed land use regulations than in the jumble of regulations we have to work with today.
Collin Coles is a retired planner from Post Falls.