COEUR TERRE: Negative impact on Indian Meadows

I have lived in Coeur d’Alene since 1984. We moved to Indian Meadows in 1993 because we wanted a rural lifestyle but be close enough to town for my wife to be on call at Kootenai Hospital. Indian Meadows was the answer to our dreams. Seven minutes to the hospital and an acre to plant a big garden, grow apples for cider, raise kids in an environment where they were safe to travel the neighborhood and visit friends. 

Most days in the summer a menagerie of horses being ridden, ponies pulling carts, dogs pulling wagons, parents pushing strollers and dozens of kids on bicycles would pass my front door. 

Over the years, Indian Meadows has changed a little, not so many horses anymore, the median across from Northshire Park is full of cars most mornings in the summer because the parking lot is full. But what hasn’t changed is most days when the weather is nice the parade of strollers and skateboarders and walkers and bicyclists and dog walkers and sometimes a horse will enrich my day. 

When Coeur Terre is finished, the city planning folks estimate around 24,000 vehicles per day will be introduced into my neighborhood as commuters. This will be unsafe for myself and my neighbors. Please contact your city council and the city planning department and ask them to save Indian Meadows. 

Your neighborhood will be next. Indian Meadows is a very unique neighborhood, it is the only neighborhood zoned R1 in the city limits and should not be sacrificed.

ETHAN HOLCOMB

Coeur d’Alene