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GROWTH: An election alert for residents

| July 2, 2021 1:00 AM

Warning: Planned growth will cost you, the current resident of Kootenai County, which currently has 165,000 residents.

The CDA, Post Falls, Rathdrum, and Hayden comprehensive plans project up to 300,000-400,000 people by 2040. CDA currently 55K planning for 85K, Post Falls currently 36K planning for 103K; the other cities are planning on more than doubling their population.

New growth will not pay for itself! You — the current resident — will be requested to pay for added schools, plus fire and sheriff services unless we, the citizens, demand that new growth pay for these needs.

The four cities’ “Smart Growth” presentations and surveys omit what will accompany this excessive growth. These plans will open our county to throngs of people that will more than double our population.

Our roads, which currently require major improvements and repairs, will be gridlocked. Our recreation areas that are already being overrun with trash will only become more polluted. With 100% certainty, denser populations necessarily precede increased crime, as publicly noted by Sheriff Norris.

Questions: Who will pay for the new schools, community services, road upgrades, and sewer improvements? What about our aquifer? How will this unprecedented growth affect your quality of life? Have you considered how much this extreme growth will cost your household?

The only way I see to slow the unchecked growth is to vote this November for candidates who embrace slow, careful growth, and who will demand that all growth pay for itself, instead of the current Kootenai County residents.

B. HACKBARTH

Hayden