Rathdrum City Council to reconsider Arestad property rezone request

The Rathdrum City Council will reconsider Hayden Homes’ request to rezone the 127-acre Arestad property bordered by Boekel and Meyer roads after initially denying the request last month.

Council deliberated the homebuilder’s request for reconsideration in front of a packed City Hall on Wednesday night.

The request was approved by a vote of 2-1, with councilor John Hodgkins recusing himself from the process following allegations from Hayden Homes that Hodgkins had engaged “in multiple ex-parte actions.”

"In order to ensure that no perceived bias compromises the integrity of the remainder of this matter, I am recusing myself,” Hodgkins said.

Hodgkins had made the motion to deny the rezone request at last month’s public hearing.

"While the applicant has alleged that I have participated in multiple ex-parte actions, none of these actions had impacted my previous decisions," Hodgkins said.

Councilor Ken Owens gave the only dissenting vote.

Hayden Homes had originally requested the parcel of land be rezoned from industrial to mixed residential, and proposed construction of nearly 500 homes on the property over the next six to eight years.

Though the request was denied last month on the grounds that Hayden Homes failed to meet certain criteria for establishing a mixed-residential zoning district, the homebuilder was lawfully allowed to request reconsideration within 14 days, explained city planner James Agidius.

City attorney Emily Smith added that the redeliberation process will involve councilors deciding whether Hayden Homes has met the conditions listed in the initial denial, rather than another public hearing.

“Since it is a continuation of the same quasi-judicial process, and no new information is to be presented, it's not reopened to the public because they've already been able to comment on the information provided," Smith said.

Smith also said that if the council were to deny the reconsideration request, Hayden Homes could file a lawsuit, describing the city’s odds of winning such a suit as “very slim.”

Councilor Larry Sanders ultimately made the motion to approve the request for consideration.

“Based on the findings and facts of the presentation by the applicant, (and) based on the state law and how people have certain rights on their property, I find it no choice but to make a motion to accept,” Sanders said.

The motion was met with dismay from several members of the public, who had also vocalized their opposition to the request throughout the meeting.

"We have to maintain order,” said Mayor Mike Hill. “If we don’t maintain order the next step is to remove people from the council, and I really don't want to have to do that."

Council is expected to redeliberate the rezone request at its next meeting Wednesday, June 25.