Council sounds off on Coeur Terre
Mayor Jim Hammond stands in the doorway of his office at Coeur d'Alene City Hall early in 2022.
COEUR d'ALENE — When the Coeur d'Alene City Council deferred a decision on the annexation request on the Coeur Terre development Feb. 7, it gave council members a chance to share their concerns with city staff.
Here are some of the comments by the council and Mayor Jim Hammond.
Mayor Jim Hammond
Must have connections to the east for public safety.
Dan English
Traffic constraints from smaller streets joining to Coeur Terre and don't use Spiers at all.
Have a one-lot strip of lower density just to west of Indian Meadows area, maybe the next development to the north. Recommend R3 vs. R1.
Combine the two schools into one more in middle of development.
Amy Evans
Encourage traffic to be funneled to Huetter/discourage traffic from going through Indian Meadows, using speed limits, curbs, etc.
Does not favor cutting off access to the east entirely because of public safety concerns.
Woody McEvers
No access thru eastern property line to Atlas Road unless police/fire need.
All ingress and egress to development through Hutter Road and Hanley.
Frontage road parallel Huetter for future north/south travel and access during construction.
Place schools closer together for shared use facilities.
Dan Gookin
Overall, I'd like to see lower density. This solution addresses many issues the public has with overdevelopment.
Connectivity must be limited to Hanley and Huetter.
No access through neighborhoods to the east.
Remove restrictions on the types of allowable businesses and other limitations imposed in the current development agreement.
Stipulate that all future subdivisions not be placed on the consent calendar.
Christie Wood
Developers proposal is not in line with the City Comp plan for blending with an established neighborhood. This needs to be addressed by lower density.
Density is too high to the adjacent property in Indian Meadows. The buffer zone needs to be larger with R1 zoning.
No on any proposed ingress/egress into the Indian Meadows and Northshire division.
No to any proposal to put the middle school on the north end that will drastically impact traffic on Kathleen. The schools should be located together on the southern end.
We need a demonstrated clear effort by the developer to reach out to the impacted neighborhoods for discussion and consideration of their concerns.
Developer needs to produce a comprehensive traffic study of the entire impact area.
Kiki Miller
The 5% allocation of 80-130% AMI inventory is weak. I would like to see language that assures a more focused effort to assure local worker housing can be provided as agreed.
I would like to see Habitat for Humanity given first right of refusals on a minimum one multi-family parcel. Their model provides for quality structures, is a land trust inventory that isn’t addressed here.
I agree with no entrances from the east in order to protect existing neighborhoods. However I do think some connectivity should exist.
I believe a density reduction to R3 for at least some portion of the R8 is appropriate. Further, this high density has been a growth topic that citizens in the region have been consistent and vocal about wanting to be controlled.
Testimony was that only 3.4 avg units will be achievable in the area, but relying solely on this to be addressed in the future I’m not supportive of.
Although it is in the narrative, there is no agreement language that directs there to be a future analysis. This should be addressed in detail.
According to the testimony it appears 3 of the 4 access roads surrounding the property will be problematic or failing before it is built out at the current model projects.