Vision for CDA gets clearer

COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday night to send the 2022-2042 Comprehensive Plan to the City Council.

“This gives us the tools to start to help make the city even better,” said Commissioner Lynn Fleming.

She said the plan aims to protect the city’s resources and quality of life, but allows for growth that accommodates all people, not just those with money. People of all walks of life will be coming to Coeur d'Alene, Fleming said.

“We cannot say no and we cannot close the door,” she said. “We just have to manage it well.”

The decision came after a three-hour meeting in a packed Library Community Room that saw about 25 people speak out against the plan and the process, including calls for the commission to reject it.

It was a sometimes heated meeting, with a few shouts and interruptions. At one point Chairman Tom Messina said he would call for a recess if necessary, but for the most part, it was orderly.

Many speakers cited concerns about development and loss of community character and values.

They said they worry that the plan does nothing to control growth. They fear it will lead to rising homelessness, crime and taxes, as well as more traffic, long lines in stores and stress on infrastructure.

Some said so many newcomers have arrived in the past few years, it’s changing the very nature of Coeur d'Alene. They fear the plan caters to developers and allows for high-density growth found in San Francisco and New York.

Others said they were given little chance to comment on the final plan, which was more than two years in the making.

“Long-term planning is great,” said James Anton of Coeur d’Alene. “The question is, has this long-term plan been fully vetted?”

Anton said Coeur d’Alene is going to grow too much because the Planning Commission is going to allow it.

“This plan looks like the beginning stages of turning Coeur d’Alene into California, Portland and Minneapolis,” he said.

Jeff White, a Post Falls resident, said he has worked in the building industry.

“I have watched it go uncontrolled, unchecked,” he said.

White said people are flocking to Coeur d’Alene because the city is overdeveloping and it's negatively affecting the area.

“You’re making housing available wherever you can,” he said.

Envision Coeur d’Alene has been a collaboration between the city of Coeur d’Alene and CDA 2030 to shape growth and identify priorities for the future of Coeur d’Alene, according to the city’s website.

“Beginning in September 2019, thousands of community members from all walks of life came together to provide their thoughts, ideas and sentiments on what their vision of Coeur d’Alene should be over the next 20 years,” it states.

The public engagement effort included a kick-off event that attracted more than 80 people, stakeholder discussions, game nights, visioning exercises, surveys, mapping scenarios and volunteers serving on the Community Advisory Committee and six focus groups that met more than 20 times.

The process involved more than 60 community service groups, more than 1,400 people and more than 11,000 data points.

“When you say you have to listen to us, the people, we did,” said Commissioner Brinnon Mandel.

Officials said the city’s new Comprehensive Plan is mandated by the state and creates a framework for future Coeur d’Alene policies, code amendments and priority action items. The plan will guide future growth for the next 20 years.

Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization projects that by 2040, the population of Coeur d’Alene will reach about 85,000.

“This plan reflects what is most important for the community, how we should grow, and what we should prioritize as we guide our future,” wrote Mayor Jim Hammond. “This Comprehensive Plan is the people’s vision for Coeur d’Alene.”

Messina said he supports it.

“I’m very comfortable with this plan because it’s a vision. It’s not set in stone,” he said.

But most at the meeting weren't buying it.

Glenn Warner of Coeur d’Alene questioned why the public was given little opportunity to comment on the finished product.

“Only two meetings to express their opinions is really out of character. It’s not appropriate,” he said.

A woman named Melissa said she moved with her family to Coeur d’Alene recently for its conservative values, but worries those are being lost.

She said building more low-income housing and homeless shelters and establishing light rail connecting Spokane to Coeur d’Alene would lead to rising crime, gangs and homelessness.

“That’s all it did. It was horrible,” she said.

The plan “doesn’t seem to include conservative values, small town community values,” she said.

Lynda Putz of Hayden said the city doesn't have to “bow down and provide housing for everybody.”

“We’re begging you not to let North Idaho become California, Washington or Oregon,” she said.

Fleming said the plan must take transportation and housing into consideration for all people.

“We are not all doctors and lawyers,” she said.

David Groth, a retired teacher, has called Coeur d’Alene home since 1982. He thanked the commission for its vision to promote orderly growth, preserve quality of life and the environment and foster economic prosperity.

But he said the plan is missing a key word.

“I want to keep the word 'kindness' in here somewhere,” he said. “Kindness. Because that’s something I treasure about this community.”

The City Council will consider adoption of the Comprehensive Plan at its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday in the Library Community Room. The public will have the chance to comment.