MOUNTAIN: 'No' to development

The City of Rathdrum along with other community groups has been looking at options for the development of the City’s Rathdrum Mountain property. The city owns 557 acres which is steep and hilly and irregular in shape. The City Council intends to send out a survey to the community to help the Mayor and Council decide what is the best use of this property.

North Idaho is not lacking for recreational opportunities. One suggested potential use is for educational purposes. The school district already owns wooded property adjacent to one school and has no need to go miles away to study trees and the environment.

The irregular shape of the property, the terrain and the location make it unsuitable. To develop the mountain would result in many problems such as trespassing on private property, increased traffic on residential streets, increased taxes to maintain, security issues, fire hazards and negative impact on the animal habitat.

This effort has been tested in the past by other community groups with little or no success. On two occasions with sizable attendance the result was a resounding “No.” Now the City wants to harvest timber and use some of this revenue to contract with an engineering firm to study the project.

I do hope that one of the choices on the survey is an answer of “No.”

TONY MYERS

Rathdrum