'We don’t need to drown our culture'
Longtime Post Falls resident Kaye Balk points to a dirt road across the street from her house, indicating the north perimeter of property where a 41-acre annexation is being requested at Greensferry Road and Prairie Avenue.
DEVIN WEEKS/Press
Kaye Balk drives on roads near her Post Falls home, where development is quickly devouring rural areas. She and her husband, Jerry, and neighbor Denny Wagoner have voiced concerns about a 41-acre annexation the city is being asked to consider, where businesses and apartment buildings could potentially be built.
Life is changing in Post Falls.
For some longtime residents, it doesn't feel like it's changing for the better.
"I’m putting a lot of the pressure on the city of Post Falls to not take away what we already have,” said Denny Wagoner, who lives on the corner of Greensferry Road and Gallop Lane.
Wagoner has lived at his current address since 2005, when that stretch of Greensferry was newly paved.
He and his neighbors are concerned about the impacts that a proposed 41-acre annexation directly across Greensferry could have on the quality of life in the area if the plan is approved by the Post Falls City Council. A planning and zoning public hearing for the Joseph Family Trust Annexation request will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the city council chambers, 408 N. Spokane St.
The annexation request would zone 20.74 acres as Community Commercial Services, which permits retail, professional or service businesses, including manufacturing, technical or other professional uses, or residential that could be high-density or multi-family homes or apartments.
The other 20.26 acres would be zoned as Community Commercial Mixed, accommodating both commercial and high-density residential development in a mixed-use pattern. Post Falls city zoning code states, "This zone should be applied in areas primarily located near arterials and collector streets to support commercial, residential, professional office, and civic uses that support an accessible work, live, and shop environment."
Wagoner said he is not opposed to people prospering or to growth, but he would like Post Falls city planners to consider that this area already has an established rancher-style community in a rural area and is still county land. He said it needs to have some kind of buffer around it that is not commercialized or high-density residential living.
"I understand the Joseph Family Trust and that group, they’re really not from the area. The guy that bought the 20 acres moved in two or three years ago," Wagoner said. “I just think it is very inconsiderate when somebody comes in and is aggressively trying to change the culture that exists. Again, I’m not opposed to growth, not opposed to development, it just needs to be done in the right way, in a way that can be the least or have minimal impact on the existing culture that’s there."
He said he would propose single-family homes on 1-acre lots, even half-acre lots, be built on the east side of Greensferry to create the buffer.
"That kind of residential real estate is in high demand in the Post Falls area," Wagoner said. "We don’t need to drown our culture or our community with high-density or even single-family, seven-homes-per-acre-type living. It could be a buffer, just to soften the transition from rural to urban living.”
Jerry and Kaye Balk live across Gallop Lane from Wagoner. They don't want to be annexed from county land into the city. They're concerned about traffic congestion.
“These are only two-lane roads,” Kaye said. “It’s stupid. The infrastructure is absolutely ridiculous."
Mostly, they don't want to lose something they invested in when they built their home in 1998 — quiet country living.
“Our concern is we’re going to have to hear storage units all night long, in and out, in and out, and then people coming in all hours of the night to apartments because they’re not going to be able to exit that way, they’re going to divert the traffic and there is no road there,” she said, pointing to the south through her sliding glass back door. “Where in the world does this traffic exit?”
"We're on 5 acres," she said. "We don't want this."
The Balks and Wagoner have spoken to city employees and received information on the plans for the annexation. They plan to present public comment and written testimony to the city during Monday's public hearing.
"Everybody at the city has been very nice," Jerry said. “I don’t understand why I need commercial by my house. And they still got, I think, another 400 houses to go on Prairie yet.”
"I don’t think I need businesses next to my house," Jerry said. "I just am irritated about it."
Wagoner said he values liberty and freedom.
"But you have the responsibility to be considerate of other people when you make choices,” he said. "The Joseph Trust group, once they develop their property, they’re going to be long gone. They're not going to be around to deal with all the mayhem and the different way of life that what they’re proposing is going to impose on the rest of us."
