GROWTH: Ready to listen yet?

Am I missing something? Thousands of people are to move here next year. Where are they going to live? New housing.

Fifteen years ago I went before the Kootenai County Planning and Zoning Commission several times and talked about what I had seen happen to the Bay Area, Las Vegas and Santa Maria. I told them to put building moratoriums in place or to charge impact fees on new construction. All they saw were dollar signs with all these nice new folks moving in.

But I said, “Oh no, you will have to build new roads, provide more police, firemen, sewage treatment, water supplies…”

Did they listen? Can’t they see the future results of their decisions?

So what do we have now? Gridlock and they want us to pay to make it go away.

Developers and contractors have made huge profits through the years. Where are they now to pay for the headaches we taxpayers have to live with?

My deal is, any new construction pays for future roads, police, firemen, road repairs, sewage treatment, etc. If they don’t like it, go someplace else.

Why should I have to pay out more when my taxes and monthly city fees just keep going up and up, thanks to explosive growth?

LINDA A. KULESZA

Hayden