Op-Ed: Church will have negative impact on rural area
I am an old lady. Six years ago I bought property on Lancaster Road in Hayden because I wanted a mini farm. The area is zoned agricultural. There's a 500-acre piece of land with cows across the street and the neighbors are on large pieces of land. We cut down several trees, cleared brush, burned the huge piles, helped build the house walls, laid tile and painted the house. We planted an orchard, vineyard, productive bushes and prepared the soil to produce crops. This has been a backbreaking endeavor of love, trying to live off the land while enjoying the tranquil surroundings.
Sadly, I am faced with a proposed Seventh-day Adventist Church and school across the street on the 500 acres with cattle grazing. The neighborhood has long held onto the agricultural zoning as a means to keep the area rural, quiet, natural and allow us a peaceful way of life. With a conditional use permit this could open the area up to all kinds of ventures not appropriate and totally unwanted in the area.
I am now faced with two 20,000-square-foot buildings across the street, overhead lighting, a large parking lot and potentially a flashing neon sign. There will be a large number of people coming in and out at all times of the day and night on a road already heavily trafficked. The church proposes to use the school initially for six to eight cars of homeschooled students, a few hours twice a week. These students live in Athol, Rathdrum, Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, but not from the neighborhood. The congregation of 80 to 90 car loads of parishioners are predominately not from this area.
The church has disclosed they intend to use the facilities to support the entire Kootenai County population far beyond the church membership. This includes a free health clinic, youth rallies, Alcoholics Anonymous, adult and youth classes, disaster preparedness, weddings, funerals, continuing education, other parties using the property, etc. This facility becomes more like a convention center/meeting hall and less like a church. How are some of the participants going to get there? By bus?
The church is requesting an occupancy number of 300 for a 41,000-square-foot facility. This makes no sense. An amendment to raise the occupancy numbers can be requested and potentially changed at any time.
This project is totally out of keeping with this rural area. The traffic, the lights, the noise, the water runoff will affect the neighborhood financially, socially, environmentally, and seriously affect our way of life.
The project violates items C, D & E of the Kootenai County Land-Use and Development Code.
The final straw is the church already has a facility on a 10-acre parcel at Lancaster and Government in Hayden. It is easy in and easy out, and impacts no one.
If the church professes to be so concerned about community happiness, why are they proposing a project that is totally inappropriate for our neighborhood and will financially, socially and environmentally impact us negatively?
We have a petition with more than 816 signatures of people who do not want this project. Please listen to us Kootenai County commissioners!
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Linda Kulesza is a Hayden resident.