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COEUR TERRE: Thoughtful development plan appreciated, needed

| March 26, 2023 1:00 AM

Do you like to eat in restaurants? Do you like to have your car serviced, or your hair cut, or your children taught by qualified instructors? Do you like it when doctor’s offices, or pharmacists, or banks have folks there to help you?

I like all of those things. I would also like for my children, who grew up here, to be able to afford to live here, rather than being priced out of their home town.

I own a local restaurant that provides 20-ish jobs that pay in the top 50% of average local pay rates for those jobs. Attracting qualified (not to mention excellent) candidates for open positions is becoming more and more difficult, as workers move to other towns where they may be able to purchase a home.

Affordable housing means more than just cheap rent. To build lives and futures for their families, workers need to have entry into the housing market, which needs to be affordable to those who do all the jobs above. Those jobs involve skilled labor. We need more of the ‘missing middle’ price range, and we need more entry-level housing.

I applaud the efforts of those who seek to develop our area in thoughtful and deliberate ways, with a mind to affordability and quality of life. The Kootenai Land Company is doing just that with their Coeur Terre project. Thank you!

K. VON TILL

Coeur d’Alene