Divided land

COEUR d'ALENE - Roughly 25 Kootenai County residents marched with signs outside the county administration building on Friday morning, in protest against the land use code rewrite and the proposed change in county government.

"A lot of people are feeling like they're not being heard," said protest organizer Melanie Vander Feer, also the founder of the United Conservatives of North Idaho.

Signs along Northwest Boulevard read "Leave my property alone," and "BOCC are you listening."

Participants' chief concerns were about over-regulation resulting from the ongoing rewrite of development and land use ordinances, currently being drafted by the county with the help of out-of-state consultant Kendig Keast Collaborative.

Protesters cited premonitions of facing fees or jail time for code violations. Some fretted over how use of their parcels would beaffected by rezoning.

Others just wanted the freedom to do anything they wished on their property, without ordinances getting in the way.

"My neighbor has a truck all rusted out on his yard. I don't like it, but it's his yard," said former sheriff candidate John Green, marching alongside his wife, Elizabeth.

Green doesn't see the need for a code to protect property rights, he added.

"If my neighbor does something with their property that bothers me, we have a system to address that," he said. "It's the judicial system."

Vander Feer worries about the new laws in the Unified Land Use Code creating more bureaucracy, she said, hindering the pursuit of projects through the county.

"Our main point is to let the commissioners know that we're not liking all the changes," she said.

Tyler Shepherd said he is wary of the motives behind the ballot initiative for the alternative form of county government, which would add a county manager position and make the coroner, assessor, clerk and treasurer hired, instead of elected.

Commissioner Dan Green has said the ballot initiative will ensure qualified candidates are selected for those four positions. Adding a manager, he has said, would lighten the commissioners' work load to focus on policy making.

State law requires the county have a land use code, said Scott Clark, Community Development director.

"We've had one since the '70s, and what we have today was carried forward from the '70s," said Clark, adding that zoning is also required. "We're in dire need of updating (the ordinances), to make them easier to use and make them more well understood by the public."

The aim of the ULUC is to consolidate current ordinances, not to add bureaucracy, he said.

Clark noted that there are civil and criminal penalties under the current code.

"They're already there," he said of jail time or fines for violations.

Public opinions have been heard on this issue, he argued. The county has held a number of meetings on the ULUC that garnered hundreds of people, he said.

The new draft zoning map is online for people to review, he added. The map can be viewed at: www.kccode.com, by clicking where indicated on the home page.

"Everyone is listened to," Clark said. "Good ideas are good ideas, no matter who brings them forward."