Wanted: County parks, rec master plan

Growth issues seem to be front and center in The Press and at every public meeting. People complain there is too much traffic, density is too great, there are too many apartments, not enough classrooms, home prices are too high, housing is scarce, there are too many people, etc.

Many people want the economic benefits of growth. We all want good jobs and a thriving economy but not at the expense of losing the things we love about our home. But rapid growth often has long-term negative community outcomes. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a way to deal with development so it benefits everyone?

Ask yourself, why do I love North Idaho? The answer, most always, includes those “things” that Mother Nature provides.

Our forested hillsides, the lakes and rivers, the diverse environment and our wildlife all work to form the tapestry we love. Yet, the effort to protect and enhance those things always seems to take a back seat to other issues. That is short-sighted and unfortunate. No matter what happens with growth-related issues, it is important that we focus our efforts on seeing that the things we love about living here remain. It really comes down to maintaining and creating open spaces, trails, parks and recreation areas.

We see natural places to enjoy the outdoors shrink every year or be overused and crowded. We are facing the “tragedy of the commons” where our short-sighted fixation on growth and economic prosperity rob us and future generations of those natural resources we cherish.

There are reasons why this situation exists and ways to change it.

Going Forward

Rampant growth is overwhelming county, city, state and federal recreation land. Kootenai County has a meager amount of recreation land, mostly located around waterbodies. According to the 2010 county comprehensive plan, “Kootenai County Parks and Waterways owned approximately 60 acres [of public recreation land] as of 2007.”

Furthermore, most of the communities in our area have park and recreation master plans. Kootenai County does not have a park master plan.

In the recently adopted 2020 county comprehensive plan update, the Recreation chapter’s goal is “To maintain existing public recreation sites and acquire and develop new ones including parks, parkways, trailways, river bank greenbelts, beaches, playground, and other recreation areas and programs."

In order to achieve this, Policy 2 of this chapter directs the county to, “Create and maintain an active long-term parks and recreation plan to acquire, improve, develop and maintain County recreation facilities.” All this was unanimously approved by the current county commissioners.

A county recreation master plan would inventory existing county land, envision what should be done, and provide pragmatic ways to acquire and develop public recreation areas. Having a master plan would also help the county coordinate with existing municipal, state and federal recreation efforts.

Growth and crowding make this issue critical. The county commissioners need to step up and propose ways to acquire public land and we all need to support them.

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Collin Coles is a retired land use planner with more than 40 years of local experience. He has lived in Kootenai County for nearly 50 years.