'Bound to get built there'

By CRAIG NORTHRUP

Staff Writer

An annexation and a zoning change approved by the Coeur d’Alene City Council Tuesday paves the way for developers to fold 4 ½ acres of land west of Ramsey Road into a nearly 16-acre residential project.

The annexation connects 4.6 acres a quarter-mile south of Prairie Avenue to a pair of adjoining residential properties. The annexation also converts the property zoning from county commercial to R-17, a zoning designation that allows for 17 single-family dwellings per acre, and could include duplexes, multi-family housing and child care facilities. With a special use permit, R-17 zoning allows for additional uses including boarding houses, nursing homes, churches and mini-storage facilities.

“We do think this is a good fit,” Drew Dittman of Lake City Engineering said, testifying on behalf of property owners Ted Burnside and Tammi Kerr.

Dittman said consolidating the three parcels of land into one larger project makes sense.

The now-annexed property sits due south of six residential acres and just east of another 6-acre parcel, all tied to Lake City Engineering. The council voted, as well, to change the residential zoning of the western property to allow for 17 units per acre, creating 15-plus acres with the potential for more than 250 units.

Not everyone is pleased with the development. In a letter to the council, Jeff Voeller, director of operations for Coeur d’Alene Public Schools, wrote that, among other concerns, his department estimates the planned development will bring between 54 and 81 new students into a school district ill-equipped to handle such growth. The neighboring elementary schools — Ramsey, Skyway and Atlas — have student populations that are above capacity, and plans for a new elementary school currently in the pre-construction stages did not anticipate such a dramatic increase in the local population.

“The school district supports responsible growth,” Voeller wrote, “but again we see an example of a request for higher density growth with limited consideration for the impact of schools.”

The larger project surrounds 20 houses tucked along west Pyrenees Loop near the corner of Ramsey and west Alps Street. Melissa Jessen, one of four dissenting Pyrenees Loop residents who attended the public hearing, told the council that this new development presents real problems for those who live on that street.

“Currently, this is a very, very quiet neighborhood with traffic limited to the people who live there … It is safe for the kids that live there to play there after dark without fear,” Jessen testified.

Jessen does not oppose the annexation itself but objects to the zoning changes, citing that such a dramatic increase in local population will drastically change traffic flow density.

She noted that an influx of apartment residents will lure a more transient lifestyle and encourage vandalism, drugs and property crime, among other problems. She also expressed concern that the current residents will lose what privacy they have, particularly if three-story apartments are built directly next to her home.

“Adding the apartments will increase noise and light pollution in that area,” she said. “I don’t want people looking into my bedroom, bathroom, living room and yard from an apartment balcony. I purchased my property because of the privacy I have now. Homeowners have an expectation of privacy, and building these apartments takes that privacy away.”

Rosie Fulk, another resident, asked the council if accommodations could be made to create a buffer between the subdivision and the new development, and also asked for a two-story limit on any new structures and a buffer between the neighboring properties.

Dittman then agreed to limit all adjoining buildings that would back up against the existing homes, and to negotiate a satisfactory buffer — complete with trees — between properties.

Council member Woody McEvers lamented the concerns of Jessen and other citizens before the council’s final vote approving the annexation request and directing city staff to negotiate the final details of the annexation.

“You got some compromise out of the deal,” McEvers observed. “I know it’s not perfect, but you guys have been living in heaven for quite some time. (Something was) bound to get built there.”