Planning Department celebrates passage of Atlas Waterfront project

In a decision that was more a breath of relief than a procedural housekeeping, the Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously passed the proposed Planned Unit Development known as the Atlas Waterfront PUD.

“The nature of this project is to preserve the waterfront,” board commissioner Jon Ingalls said to city staff and consultants. “It’s to provide generous open space to the public and secure all of that — mainly the waterfront — and make it more inviting. Previous waterfront developments, in my mind, aren’t as inviting or accessible. For this [PUD] to have 25 percent open space and 100 percent of the waterfront … and you do it: with making the density at a very reasonable 11 units per acre. I think you’ve outdone yourselves.”

The 61-acre proposal south of Seltice Way and west of Riverstone includes 25 acres of open space — 12 of which will be public — along the Spokane River. The development will begin on an eight-to-10-year phased plan, which will mix single family homes, duplexes, townhouses and apartments and condos along with restaurants, shops and offices.

“This is a unique project where the city of Coeur d’Alene is the applicant,” Ingalls noted. “That’s a little unusual for a development of this size and magnitude for the city of Coeur d’Alene to be the applicant. We’re going to see … a very, very generous amount of open space, a very generous amount of public open space, 100 percent of the waterfront is public. That’s all great stuff. But, as Hilary [Anderson, community planning director] points out, it has to be paid for. So we have to have some density here to sell off, if you will, to pay for folks like me to go down their with my kayak and push it into the water and have a great day.”

The project began in February 2018 with community input during a visioning workshop, which eventually carried forward to open houses, additional workshops and meetings, with input from the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, its Pedestrian and Bicycle Committee, the Planning Commission and the public.

[The community’s input] really shaped the proposal in front of you here,” Phil Boyd, the project’s presenter and engineer with Welch Comer said. “We actually presented pictures to the community: ‘Do you like this kind of landscaping or that kind of landscaping?’ And then they would vote … The more natural park won out. For example, when this park is going to develop, you’re going to see clovered grasses instead of manicured grasses. We did go through quite a few meetings here with quite a bit of public input here.”

The undertaking does not pass without its detractors. Toby Sheldon, for example, weighed in during the public comment opportunity by acknowledging Atlas would go forward while warning of careful restraint.

“I have been opposed to this ‘project’ because the city had no business, in my opinion, buying the property,” he said. “It should have been an individual developer doing it, but you’re there, so now we go forward. You have some real issues; I’m not sure on the presentation of the staff [of] the eight-to-10 year policy program, you’re going to end up like John Stone if you have a downturn in the economy, and the public taxpayer is going to be the recipient of a lack of performance. I think you should expedite the process much more quickly and go forward in at least a four-year max.”

Boyd responded by saying the city is solving a project the free market simply could not.

“I think the city’s take on that is,” Boyd replied to Sheldon, “it sat there for 12 years with a private developer not able to do it. The way the city can do it is because they have a partner in ignite [cda] that has financing mechanisms available to them that developers may not have.

Local Sarah Williams said she was reluctant to see further growth but said she was encouraged by this project over other developments, specifically because of the open space.

“I do value the compromises you guys have made,” she said. “As a frequenter of this currently semi-wildland area, it’s a rare find to have in this area that hasn’t been chopped to bits by development. The opportunity to have even a sliver maintained for public space is genuinely appreciated from my standpoint.”

Ultimately, commission member Lewis Rumpler lauded community planning direct Hilary Anderson and the city staff for their tireless work on the project before the commission voted unanimously to approve the new PUD in nothing short of a coronation.

“I can’t be prouder honestly of the work that’s been done,” Rumpler said. “Multi-agency, city and community interactions: This is not done typically in a community. This is a very difficult thing to do. To have successfully got it to the stage where it is and to have a chance to truly optimally utilize that property in a way that benefits … as many citizens as possible. Preserving the open space, preserving access to the water, potentially being a job creator, creating wealth for the community: If you want to check off all those boxes, at least in the limited time I’ve been on the Planning Commission, this is an extraordinary project I think it will have viability here, locally regionally and perhaps even nationally as it succeeds going forward. I thank you all for the effort you’ve taken here, and it has my full support.”