City seeks 525-acre annexation in Rathdrum

RATHDRUM — Rathdrum's largest annexation request in years — 525 acres on the west side of Greensferry Road on both sides of Wyoming Avenue — is entering the public hearing process.

The site is farmland, with the city owning 320 of the acres between Hayden Avenue and Wyoming and Beyond Green Inc. and developer Philip Wirth the remaining 205 to the north.

Rathdrum City Administrator Leon Duce said the city plans to sell its portion after the annexation to pay for its future city campus that's planned along Lancaster Road.

"We believe it's important to secure (the 320 acres) as a tax base for the city of Rathdrum rather than it go to someplace else," Duce said, explaining why the city initiated the annexation request. "Our intent is to sell the 320 acres to build (the campus). Hopefully we can sell it in the next year or two, but a lot needs to take place before that happens."

The city already has secured 30 acres along Lancaster for the city campus site that would combine its departments into one location. Design work for that project has not started.

While the annexation request off Greensferry is the city's largest in recent years, the record is 785 acres in 1994 where the Rathdrum Power plant is located.

Duce said the city is working on setting a public hearing date before the Planning and Zoning Commission on the annexation request. That board will make a recommendation to the City Council, which will also hold a hearing on the request.

A hearing before the planning board was originally slated for Feb. 20 but that has been postponed. A new date needs to be set because the legal notice in The Press contained a location error that the city made.

"We want to make sure we provide proper public notice," Duce said.

Duce said there are no specific development plans for the site from either property owner. He said much of the property isn't even developable because of power and gas lines.

About 160 of the acres are proposed to be zoned industrial and a small portion on the west side residential, as a buffer between the industrial part and residential properties in the county. The properties can still be farmed under an industrial zoning.

Both property owners are currently leasing out their land to farmers.

Duce said there has been early interest in purchasing the city's property.

"We've had a couple Realtors contact us and the city of Post Falls is interested in it for land application," Duce said. "We would want market value for it, so appraisals would need to be done."

Officials from both cities said initial discussions of a purchase have occurred.

Post Falls already owns 618 acres on the prairie for future land application of treated wastewater. As standards of disposing wastewater to the Spokane River tighten, land application is expected to become the preferred discharge method.

Beyond Green's recent purchase of its 205 acres is separate from the 115 acres it owns nearby at the southeast corner of Lancaster and Greensferry roads near the power plant, which was annexed into the city last year.