Those who profit should pay for growth

Let those who profit from the growth pay for it.

I came to Coeur d’ Alene in 1994. Yes, I was hearing the same then, as now. “All of these * Californians. This growth is ruining this area.”

I remember attending impact fee hearings. I heard locals and those who, at the time, had transplanted here 30 years prior. It was the same then, as now. Yes, I know: I’m here, now shut the door. It’s been going on forever. When I came here, it was a trickle.

Ramsey Road was one lane each direction north of I-90. The grass fields of the prairie were void of the slammed-in tract homes that are rapidly filling it from I 90 to Rathdrum and beyond. One could travel from I-90 to north of Hayden in about five minutes. Traffic? Non-existent.

The recent proposal to tack a $50 fee on to registrations, every year, to pay for the future growth failed because those who are here have been paying for growth. Now, the roads are packed at almost all hours of the day. Not just 90 and 95, but Government, Ramsey, and even Fourth and Atlas, and Prairie has turned into the east to west alternative.

Who’s making all the money from the growth? The land owners of, primarily, the prairie, who sell to the developers who buy the land. The contractors who pack the tract homes into developments.

What’s happening to everyone else? Everyone is sitting in traffic and having to deal with the exponential flood of people fleeing blue states. Property taxes and utilities are going up, schools and services are being overloaded, and the elected officials only think to ask for more from those who are here.

I could slow the growth in a heartbeat. Pick a number: Say $50,000 for example; maybe more, maybe less. A number that would be dedicated to the fund that the $50 fee was to be for, to build major roads to ease the traffic.

Huetter Road, if I am not mistaken, is the plan. Where is Huetter Road? Right down the middle of the prairie, where all of the people are going to be packed in like sardines. Where a small number of people are going to make a ton of money. Oh, that $50K? That gets tacked on to the price of every new home built. And maybe a $100 transfer fee when someone turns in their non-Idaho driver's license for an Idaho license?

I was recently looking at an investment property. I went to just about every development on the prairie. I was given the same story by every agent. No pre-sales. We will put you on a list and then have a bidding war for each home. No, they didn’t admit the bidding war part.

I received a call the other day from one agent. “Hi Ed, that home that you were looking at? Yeah, the price is going to be $50,000 - $55,000 more than was on the price sheet.” Oh, and it’s best to over-bid the ask if you want to get the property.

Please don’t try and tell me that materials have increased $50K in such a short period of time. Yes, I understand maximizing profit. Great, but if you are going to profit, you pay for the results of your profit and the increasing strain on roads and infrastructure.

If these people flooding in, flush with cash, want to live here so badly, let them spend some more of that cash building the highways and infrastructure that they are going to use.

That $400K, 1,500-square-foot (or less) tract home will now cost $450K. Either the buyer will shell out another $50K, or the builder will have to reduce some of the windfall profit, or somewhere in between. There will come a point where even those flush with cash will see that it’s not worth $450,000 for a basic cul-de-sac tract home and maybe slow down the flood. If it doesn’t slow the flood, at least the $50K will go toward paying for the roads and infrastructure.

I don’t remember what the cost of the Huetter plan was, but 5,000 homes at $50K each is $250,000,000. Let those needing the project through the middle of the prairie and those profiting from the development pay for the majority of it.

Close your eyes and imagine 10 years from now. You are flying over the prairie after taking off in a large jet from the new two-mile runway, from the south terminal, at the new Coeur d’Alene regional airport. Below you are wall-to-wall tract developments. A concrete jungle.

Where is the water going to come from? Where is the sewage and waste going to go? What are your water, sewage, and garbage disposal fees going to be?

I’m not against growth. But let’s stop the lip service and have a legitimate managed growth plan to benefit all residents. I don’t expect that my proposal will enamor me to those in the development and real estate business, but something needs to be done, and soon. The foot dragging and special interest concern must stop.

I don’t know the technicalities but would be willing to learn and participate in getting something like my proposal on the ballot. Is anyone else with me?

Let the people decide.

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Ed DePriest is a Hayden resident.