Vandalism follows citizen outrage over apartment project

POST FALLS — Just two days after residents expressed outrage at City Hall over a 208-unit apartment complex, the construction site sustained thousands of dollars in vandalism damage.

At the site in the Fieldstone neighborhood Thursday, oil was found dumped in the cabs and heater vents of three ACI Northwest vehicles at the northeast corner of Poleline and Syringa and about 25 survey stakes were stolen, requiring the lot to be re-surveyed, according to a Post Falls Police report. The total estimated amount of damage is $3,500.

"There's a high probability that it was an attempt to slow the project down or stop it," said Bob Roach of ACI, which is doing excavation work at the site for developer Viking Construction. "It happens every now and then, but it's still disheartening. We're just out there doing our jobs and employing workers."

The vandalism and theft occurred between 8 p.m. Wednesday and 7:30 a.m. Thursday when workers arrived at the site, according to police. No suspects have been identified.

Construction workers said a man yelled at them when equipment arrived at the construction site.

"We have hired a security guard to patrol the site and, if we catch the person or persons, we will prosecute to the full extent of the law," said Scott Krajack, Viking's land development director.

Several Fieldstone residents spoke out about the apartment complex during the citizen comment period at Tuesday's heated Post Falls Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. The city's video of the meeting showed one man approaching the board and knocking over the nameplate of Commissioner Ray Kimball after citizen comments while the meeting was still being held. Kimball gave him a bewildered look and set the nameplate back up before continuing on with leading the meeting.

Concerned residents said they had not heard about the details of the complex until this month and are concerned that it will lower property values and cause traffic congestion in their neighborhood.

"What are we supposed to do about this?" resident Jax Clay asked the commission.

Resident Taj Wilkerson said he's not disputing the project's approval process with the city, but has concerns about traffic, the infrastructure and the three-story apartment buildings.

"Is this the best use (for the property)?" he asked. "What we do today affects us 25 years down the road."

Planners and city staff told the residents that Viking has gone through the approval process and was issued a permit to start construction. They advised the citizens that the project notification dispute has to be handled between Viking and the concerned residents.

Krajack said the land-use map for Fieldstone that was approved in 2002 shows the parcel at the northeast corner of Poleline and Syringa being commercial and high-density.

"We decided to skip the commercial," said Krajack, adding that a commercial building and the 208 apartment units could have been built on the same site. "The residents are angry that we didn’t tell them there was going to be apartments on this site. It is up to the home buyer to find out what elements are going to be where when they buy into a master-planned community."

Krajack said most master-planned communities in the area have multi-family use integrated into the development.

"If these buyers were that concerned about multi-family, they should have checked," he said. "Some have also claimed that they asked, and our sales agent lied to them. That is untrue. I spoke with our sales agent and she was aware that it was zoned for multi-family, but always told people that she wasn’t sure what we would build there eventually."

Krajack said at one point Viking had the parcel for sale and an assisted living facility expressed interest before the plans for the apartments were finalized and approved this summer.

"Now that it is all done and approved, building permits pulled, they are picketing and threatening to sue us," he said. "This is not something we did to the residents. This was part of the master plan all along."

Some residents, however, claim they were under the impression that the parcel would be duplexes or triplexes but not apartments.

Krajack said Viking isn't letting the vandalism deter it from continuing the project.

"We have had some upset neighbors in the Fieldstone subdivision, but of course we have no way to know for sure if it was them," Krajack said.