MY TURN: 'Out-of-control growth' under Saterfiel, Davis

In the upcoming Hayden election, I’m voting against 17-year incumbent city councilman Roger Saterfiel. I’m also voting against mayoral candidate Alan Davis who sat on the Planning and Zoning Commission for the last seven years. 

I’m doing so because I’m disappointed with the out-of-control growth that happened under the leadership of this pair. On their watch, too many open spaces were seized, too many high-density apartment complexes were built, and too many of Hayden’s single-family neighborhoods were threatened with the imposition of larger-footprint duplexes and triplexes. 

More importantly, under the incumbents’ tenure, Hayden made two recent devastating changes: the revised Future Land Use Map and the removal of the Special Use Permit requirement for approval of new developments.  Unless they are reversed, they will spell the end of small-town Hayden as we know it.

Many other Hayden residents share my concerns. In November 2021, voters replaced two city council incumbents with candidates that, according to The Press, “were outspoken against development.” Both incumbents were sent packing in landslide defeats. 

It wasn’t enough.

Hayden residents still worry about overdevelopment. And rightly so. A resident survey conducted in June showed 68% of respondents believe the city is growing too fast.

Hayden has traditionally been a bedroom community to Coeur d’Alene, comprised mostly of single-family homes and thriving small businesses lining our major streets. But while Davis and Saterfiel have been in office, developers constructed high-density apartment complexes, including very large ones with up to and over 100 housing units. No doubt you’ve seen them, they’re impossible to miss. 

Many border single-family home neighborhoods with windows that peer into backyards. When developers offer to build apartments to generate significant impact fees and taxes — while interest groups demand more affordable housing and social services, everybody wins, right? 

Not at all. We current residents of Hayden who want the city to maintain its small-town feel have been losing out, and we know it. We also stand to lose even more if poor leadership continues.

One of the changes that mayoral candidate Luke Sommer and city council candidate Tom Shafer have vowed to amend is the city’s Future Land Use Map (FLUM). The FLUM adopted in the Spring of 2021 fundamentally changed how the city will look in the future. The central planners behind it decided to totally disregard the desires of Hayden citizens by adding dramatically higher residential densities, as evidenced by the purple sections on the nearby map. Both Roger Saterfiel and Alan Davis had every chance to protect Hayden’s residents from the FLUM’s high-density future. They both failed to do so. 

Just weeks after the city certified the disastrous FLUM, another misguided policy passed as part of the city’s Comprehensive Plan. This change removed the requirement for developers to present their plans at public city council meetings and get a majority vote of the city council for a Special Use Permit in approval of their development. The elimination of these requirements allows developers to bypass public input, stealing the people’s voice. This was a huge attack on the property rights of existing residents. Roger Saterfiel and Alan Davis sat on their hands as this policy was adopted. 

They allowed it to happen.

Coupled together, these policy changes represent a ticking time bomb for Hayden. As interest rates fall and building costs level out the developments — including high-density apartments — will proliferate. So will traffic. Hayden mayoral candidate Luke Sommer and city council candidate Tom Shafer are the leaders that can reverse these policies.

They remain our last and best chance to save Hayden’s small-town character. That’s why Sommer and Shafer earned my vote. If you want to preserve Hayden, it’s not too late for you to cast your vote for them too. Our way of life depends on it.

Ray Drexler is a resident of Hayden.