URD: Not really urban

Regarding the article on the two “pending” Urban Renewal Districts (URD) in Post Falls. The article does not mention a few other points.

The Pleasant View annexation and URD is located about as far from urban as possible. It is a vacant 340-acre section of land with homes on large lots, 1 to 5 acres, adjacent on two sides. It is connected to Post Falls by a tiny dot of land and this was carefully obtained so the 340 acres could be annexed/URD’d.

There is no urban residential and no commercial nearby. There are some industrial uses to the west and the transfer station. No one living nearby will have representation/vote on plans for the mixed use residential (tiny lots) and commercial zones (allows apartments) unless the city absorbs them too.

The only benefitting parties are the owner of most of the land, a developer, and the PF School District, which will get water and sewer delivered by the taxpayers to their long-owned 60-acre school site. Payback (?) is from incremental taxes, which means the goal is to develop as densely as possible.

So much for small town Post Falls and rural living. At least the downtown URD can be called “urban.” Heck, it’s extremely dense compared to Pleasant View.

HOWARD BURNS

Post Falls