Lilac Glen hearings tonight

COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene City Council tonight is scheduled to conduct public hearings on zone changes and an annexation for the proposed Lilac Glen development.

Project applicant and owner Larry Fluet, of Coeur d'Alene, has proposed developing a 13-acre parcel on the east side of Interstate 90 and northwest of the Lake Villa Apartments.

Three acres of the 13-acre parcel are in the county, but are adjacent to the city limits on three sides. Fluet wants the city to annex the 3 acres to consolidate the project site and facilitate the development.

Fluet wants to develop lots for two assisted-living facilities, seven duplexes and six single-family homes with a new city street and associated utilities.

The property on the city's east side is mostly undeveloped, with five existing single-family homes, four of which are in the 3-acre piece within the county.

The heavily treed parcel features an elevation change of approximately 120 feet and serves as the primary drainage corridor for the French Gulch Basin.

The city's Planning Commission approved the proposal in June.

Dick Stauffer, representing the applicant, told the planning commissioners in June that the assisted-living facility would include two buildings, with parking underneath, and have 70 beds.

A handful of neighbors have voiced opposition to the overall proposal, citing concerns about traffic, congestion and flooding of French Gulch Creek, which runs through the property.

"This project will increase traffic in the area and cause a possible destruction of the hillside," said Anny and Don Lemke, in an email to the city.

"The terrain in this area is not conducive to this type of development," neighbor Shelley Hurtado wrote to the city. "It is highly likely that the future stability of the hillside itself as well as the homes on that hillside will be put in a compromised position, in jeopardy and/or negatively impacted by building of this scope in the area being referenced for rezoning."

Larry Mittelstadt, another neighbor, said he opposes any zone changes.

"This property was undoubtedly originally zoned as it was for perfectly good reasons, by people of perfectly sound minds, sometime back," Mittelstadt said. "Whoever now owns or chooses to purchase this property can make his improvements within the zoning constraints originally envisioned, just like the rest of us."