Health Corridor hasn't been forgotten

While it may have been out of public view for several months, the Health Corridor Urban Renewal District is still underway, and plans are beginning to take shape.

During a Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting Tuesday, KMPO Transportation Planner Ali Marienau updated the board and listeners on different scenarios emerging for the future of Coeur d'Alene's Health Corridor.

Like many urban renewal districts, the Health Corridor is a multi-phased project spread out over the next 20 years to encourage economic development, attract high-paying jobs, and improve the area's infrastructure — in this case, fine-tuned to support the growth of the health care industry. 

"There was no initial analysis done on how certain improvements would benefit or impact traffic on that corridor, so this is just taking it one step forward," Marienau said. 

For KMPO, the study explicitly focused on mobility, both car and nonmotorized, redevelopment, neighborhood stabilization, parks, and open space.

Three scenarios Marienau outlined:

• A no-build option that looks at the baseline KMPO anticipates for roadway congestion in the Health Corridor through 2040,
•  The master plan scenario review of all additional land use and transportation build out and the impacts each could have on the area, and
• An alternative substitute developed by DOWL that pulls from the no-build and master plan studies.

"Our consultant (DOWL) took the knowledge they gained in the previous two scenarios and determining alternatives and other improvements that could be needed to address any additional issues of congestion or safety," Marienau said. "They looked at what is feasible or potentially not, and ideas they think are going to work best for this location."

The district, which was approved in a 5-1 vote by the Coeur d'Alene City Council in December 2019, would develop on 263 acres surrounding Kootenai Health, spreading west toward Riverstone. Pioneered by ignite cda — Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency — the Health Corridor aims to revitalize the deteriorating buildings and underutilized land between Interstate 90, Davidson Avenue, Northwest Boulevard, and Government Way.

On Thursday, Marienau and KMPO will present the three options to project stakeholders like the city of Coeur d'Alene, ignite cda, Kootenai Health, and the Idaho Transportation Department.

Feedback from the meeting will determine how DOWL will proceed, Marienau said. Following will be a period of public involvement, an implementation plan, and a cost-benefit analyses. 

"We're a little bit delayed in our schedule. Originally we were hoping to wrap this study up in April, but due to a variety of issues, it looks like we're probably going to be about six weeks later than that," Marienau said. "But it's been coming along really well."

INFRASTRUCTURE REVISITED

KMPO Board members also discussed plans to revisit finding a funding solution to support Kootenai County's aging transportation infrastructure. The proposed $50 local option vehicle registration fee may have failed, KMPO Executive Director Glenn Miles said, but several public surveys have shown the community interest in roadway improvements. 

"People see the problems," Miles said. "About 88% of people surveyed in the (Coeur d'Alene Regional and Post Falls) Chambers supported additional funding for transportation and a lot of the same kind of projects."

KMPO learned from the surveys, Miles said, recognizing the need to spend more time talking to the general public about transportation and developing a broader understanding of Kootenai County's needs.

The main discrepancy, he noted, was how the people felt funding should be gathered. Some believed the state should provide more funding, others proposed a gas tax, and 10% of survey respondents believe growth needs to pay for itself.

"The challenge is people want to slice it four or five different ways, and so you don't get a majority of people getting behind one way to do it," Miles said. 

Some state funding could be seen in the future, Miles explained, as ITD has five fiscal year 21 supplemental requests in the works that would equal about $206 million. The total includes a $126 million one-time allocation from Gov. Brad Little's Building Idaho's Future infrastructure initiation — coming from the state's $630 million surpluses, and $71 million in spending authority for federal COVID Relief Act dollars. 

Over the next few months, KMPO plans to create a unified public outreach program, Miles said, that will later become a roadshow to inform communities about options moving forward and a promising financing plan to debut in 2022.