Inside muscle alleged Zone-change request draws neighbors' ire

A sensitive land area, with drainage into Lake Creek, might be turned into an 84-acre development in southern Kootenai County if a member of the county’s planning and zoning board is allowed a zone change.

That’s how the neighbors of Robert Grossglauser view his plan to turn agricultural and forest land along Elder Road on the Coeur d’Alene Tribe reservation into a rural subdivision.

A zone change for the farmland near Fighting Creek will be considered at a public hearing at 6 p.m. today in Room 1 of the Kootenai County Administration Building, 451 Government Way in Coeur d’Alene.

Grossglauser, a contractor who moved to Kootenai County from Sacramento, Calif., with his family before joining the planning and zoning board, filed for a zone change on three parcels last autumn.

Grossglauser asked for the change in September. It would allow for the land he purchased a few years ago to be divided into three parcels, inlcuding two 20-acre parcels for residential use.

Grossglauser could not be reached for comment, but in a narrative to the county, he explained that farming the land was untenable, that the land was meant for his family, and dividing the property would allow him to leave parcels for his children.

“The best use of this land is not agricultural,” Grossglauser wrote, noting that with “numerous small lots surrounding (the) subject property,” subdividing the land seemed to fit into the county’s comprehensive plan.

Dryland farming, he wrote, is difficult and unfeasible because of the lack of water.

His neighbors agree with Grossglauser that water has always been an issue in that southern corner of Kootenai County, which lies west of U.S. 95 near Fighting Creek and a few miles from the Washington state line. The land is spotted with woods and hayfields, and farming has been its primary purpose for generations.

“The ecological system of the area cannot support the amount of water needed for the proposed homes,” Susan and Gary Brunelle wrote to the county in response to the zone change application. “There is no aquifer under the valley. Already people in the area have had to redrill wells because of the water table dropping.”

The Brunelles, like their neighbors, fear that their rural existence will change dramatically if the zone change is allowed.

John Whelan, who has lived in the area for 25 years, said he and his rural neighbors chose to live on agriculturally zoned property because of the openness it affords.

“The land is best suited for farmland which is disappearing from Kootenai County at an alarming rate,” Whelan wrote to the county.

He accused Grossglauser of using his time on the P&Z board to benefit himself.

“The applicant, an insider who seeks benefits from the very peers he associates with in his capacity with planning and zoning has only recently joined our rural community,” Whelan wrote.

Other neighbors were equally adamant the county deny the request.

“I don’t support this request, after meeting the requestor and his son that has no respect for any neighbors,” Rick Watson wrote. “Son shoots toward houses. Moved in and thinks he’s some kind of Army militia …”

Ronna Snyder, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years and who sold property along Lake Creek to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe for its efforts to manage the creek for a native westslope trout habitat, said Grossglauser’s plan for a development flies in the face of the natural history of the area.

“We believe in the Tribe’s vision for that stream,” Snyder said. “It stinks that he swoops into an area and closes off property for his own well-being because he serves on a board.

“This is why people move away from California, to get away from this kind of stuff.”

NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect two corrections. Mr. Grossglauser remains on the Kootenai County Planning and Zoning Commission. The original version of the story incorrectly reported he is a former commissioner. The zoning application is for three parcels on 84 acres to be zoned rural, which would allow for 5-acre lots. The original version of the story incorrectly reported the zoning change would allow for 2-acre parcels.