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Dividing the Four Corners

by DEVIN HEILMAN/dheilman@cdapress.com
| February 26, 2015 8:00 PM

COEUR d'ALENE - From carousels to skate parks to ball fields to public trails, it seems everyone has an opinion about what to do with the Four Corners plan.

Organizations and businesses that are or potentially could be involved with developing the Four Corners area had maps and posters on display for community members to view during a public workshop Wednesday evening in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. People were encouraged to share their thoughts through comment cards and many organizational leaders and representatives were on standby.

"I'm interested in the museum," said Jay Broderick of Coeur d'Alene, who stopped into the workshop for curiosity's sake. It was his first time attending a community input event.

"Coeur d'Alene's looking really nice from Higgens Point down to beyond Riverstone, and this is a big part of it," he said. "This is pretty interesting."

The Four Corners master plan is for a 2-mile stretch involving about 40 acres, 29 of which belong to the Bureau of Land Management. This area includes Independence Point, parking adjacent to the Museum of North Idaho, Memorial Field, Mullan Avenue and BLM property that extends from River Avenue into Riverstone.

According to the city of Coeur d'Alene, if the BLM accepts the plan - which would generally require that any development provide for public uses - then the federal agency could lease the property to the city at little or no cost. Wednesday's event was the second workshop that welcomed public opinion on the plan.

"It's a long-term plan to help develop that property moving into Coeur d'Alene and then Memorial Field," said Steve Anthony, recreation director for the Coeur d'Alene Parks and Recreation Department. "But the emphasis is the BLM property. And we're working with the carousel groups. The Memorial Field concepts are really cool."

Anthony estimated about 170 people attended throughout the workshop, which attracted a wide mix of ages and interests.

"What we're doing is, the first open house we got the feedback from the public on the different sections of each part, then we went back and redefined the plan," Anthony said. "Tonight, we received card comments and then we'll present those ideas, and we'll get more feedback."

Trevor Groth, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, attended the workshop with several others who are in favor of a new skate park.

"This has been like a 5-year deal we've been working on, but the last year and a half we got all the momentum with it," he said. "In a sense, we feel like we've been a little pushed to the side - it's definitely been one of those things where a baseball field or a pickleball court or something like that goes in first, but I don't think people really realize how big of a skate community we have in Coeur d'Alene. If you go down Sherman, how many longboarders and skateboarders do you see? Hundreds. There's a huge skateboard culture here, and that's what we're trying to push."

Jon Ingalls of Coeur d'Alene is on the Centennial Trail board and said he is interested to know how the trail will be treated.

"As a citizen, I'm interested in all of it, but I'm more concerned about the trail," Ingalls said.

The trail practically runs through the backyard of John Bruning, chairman of the Centennial Trail board. As a Fort Grounds resident, he is directly affected by changes to the Four Corners area.

"The opening of River and Hubbard, especially Hubbard, had a huge impact on our neighborhood, because the traffic at noon used to back up from the Four Corners clear to the (Fort Ground) grill on all the streets," Bruning said. "It's so much better than it was."

Anthony said the idea behind the workshops is to allow the Four Corners development to be an "open process."

"This is the work from the steering committee and their feedback from meeting with the stakeholders and our consultants putting it on paper, Facebook comments to the city, all different age groups," he said.